faderift | [OPEN] Running with my roots pulled up

WHO: Bruce ~~Banner~~ and whoever else
WHAT: Rumors abound. Bruce is good at pretending he can't hear anything. A dracolisk makes everyone's life hell.
WHEN: Across Justinian
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: Belated open log thing for the remainder of June; prompts and such are under the cut. Starting in brackets but feel free to switch to prose and I will follow. If you want specific prompts/starters, let me know @

knightblazer or PM this journal!

one. trouble on four hooves. (stables)

[It's not exactly the first time the horsemaster is on his case and it probably won't be the last as well, if the current situation is to go by it.

Horsemaster Dennet wasn't exactly thrilled with the dracolisk that had decided to trail all the way back here with him (muttering along the lines of 'as if one of them wasn't enough'), but the one that Bruce... was stuck with had a tendency for more collateral damage. Nothing major, at least, but after breaking three gates and four fences in its apparent nightly ritual of getting out of the stables there were some lines that needed to be drawn. Thus, this current situation.

The hammer in his hand pounds loudly against the nails as Bruce does his best fixing up the damage the dracolisk had caused in the last few nights. The sleeves of his threadbare shirts are rolled up, for even with the chill here pounding away like this still made him sweat quite a bit, especially as he continued to toil away the hours.

Beside him the dracolisk chewed delicately on some hay, clearly much calmer and less prone to violence now that its human was around.]

two. not quite back to business (healing tents, courtyard)

[It was impossible to ignore the rumors, even if they weren't that hotly circulated, for better or for worse. But still the damage had been done and it would be a lie if he said that things were the same as before.

Nothing was the same as it used to be. After the fallout with Adelaide things didn't really quite look up. Patients who once came to him for help now avoided his gaze entirely and went to others, and the new ones who came in now looked at him with wariness, with all the suspicion that frustrated Bruce more than anything else. This was one of the reasons why he hid his magic away, why he stuck to herbs and what he could do with nothing but his head and his own two hands. He was here to help and he didn't need his magic to do it. It wasn't worth any of this.

(But of course, he deserved it. He knows that. He deserves every bit of this.)

Still, regardless of everything, he came here to do a job and despite all that had happened, there were always going to be people who needed help. So Bruce does the best he can, going around the courtyard to treat whoever was willing to accept his help and aiding anybody who came to his tent while he was in there.]

three. midnight mulling (battlements)

[The battlements had, in a way, become something of a sanctuary to him now. When the night gets this dark and most of Skyhold is asleep, the biting chill of the cold and the silence of the night comforts him well.

On most other nights he'd have the excuse of potion brewing to be up here but tonight that desire isn't there. He sits on the floor, back against one of the walls as he glances out to the mountains that surround them, the sky above that twinkle with countless stars. When everything feels so vast and overwhelming its easy enough to lose himself into the sight, to let them take him away from the chaos of his mind and his soul. To find that momentary peace within himself again, when every part of him rages for something else otherwise.]

wildcard.

[Feel free to throw in your own prompt or PM/contact me to plot out stuff!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[At least this time Bruce does pause, if only because it sinks to him that the person is actually talking to him. One can never be too sure, after all, when so many people pass by the stables especially at this time.

He glances over, first to him, then to the dracolisk as it chews on its given hay some more before he looks back at the person who addressed him and shrugs.] It doesn't belong to anybody.

[And with that said, he turns back to the fence and starts pounding away again with the hammer.]

[That's it? Just that? He supposes if the man doesn't know then he can't press the issue, but this feels...suspicious. HMM. Does it even have a bit? Just a disgustingly coloured wild creature roaming around?] If you work for Dennet, then you can escort it out of Skyhold and back to the wilds from whence it came, before it does more damage. It would make less work for you in the end, I imagine.

[The rumors of the surprise mage surgeon only refer to a name, and he's never had the 'pleasure' of meeting Bruce before. With so many under the Inquisition banner, this could be anybody, really.]

[The dracolisk indeed doesn't have anything on it - which was pretty much another point of contention for the the horsemaster to get on Bruce's case. Any attempts to put anything resembling a saddle on the dracolisk had ended pretty badly. It may also be why Bruce has four fences to fix instead of three.

He takes a moment to give the nail he's on a few more pounds of the hammer before he pauses and turns back to the other once again.] I don't work for the horsemaster. I just... owe him a few debts.

[All of which involving said dracolisk in question.]

[His gaze pointedly slides to the so-far demure draconic mount.] And he put you to work here because this...unclaimed one doesn't seem to like staying in a stable.

Again, I suggest getting it out even for your own sake. Then he could have you doing something less tedious. And the rest of the mounts can stop being unsettled. [Notice he doesn't suggest he do it himself, of course. He's not looking to lose a hand. But he does start to wonder how much the hide of this thing could fetch in a market in Val Royeaux.]

[To that Bruce just snorts - not at the other, really, but--well, okay, maybe just a little. But its mostly for himself than anything else.]

Believe me, I've tried. It just keeps coming back every single time.

[With on memorable time when Bruce was in his tent. Luckily it had been during the night and so didn't attract that much attention - even if the damage was still done.]

Then I don't imagine it will distress most too much to have the beast put down so it ceases being a potentially dangerous disturbance. I suppose we ought to up watches at the gates if something like this can get in so easily...

[Bruce glances over to the other with one raised eyebrow.]

Putting it down? That's a bit extreme, don't you think?

[More like 'very', but Bruce can be polite about this.]

It can't stay if it's going to be destructive and disruptive, and if it's going to find ways of sneaking back in--to continue to be destructive and disruptive--then no, I don't suppose it's too far. It'll be a change of meat for the cooks, and some different hide to work into leathers, and so on.

Although we could see if there's anyone who wishes to tame it to ride it first. Strange that it seems so docile around people. Could make a fine, unusual mount if it could stay in a stable.

Dracolisk meat has never been much of a delicacy, I hear.

[Then again there are Orlesians and their very fancy... choice of food, so who knows. Anything is possible now these days.

Apparently done chewing its hay, said dracolisk trots over to where Bruce is and proceeds to plant its snort into his hair - just as its done so many times already at this point, for Bruce. It's impossible to stifle down the sigh that he lets out this time.]

It's only been docile when I'm around. Otherwise it tends to cause a ruckus.

[He watches this, the fondness with which the mount snuffles into Bruce's hair.]

...Yours in all but name, is that so?

[Bruce more or less pinches the bridge his nose and lets out another sigh.

(Hear it. Just hear it.)]

I don't have any reason to own a mount.

[He's a healer, for crying out loud. He rarely goes out of Skyhold as it is.]

You don't get out of Skyhold much? You haven't any skills in the field? The mount certainly seems to have reason to be owned by you. If it's a matter of learning, I'm certain we can find a suitable teacher...

[Bruce's response is to shake his head - mostly due to the first question.]

I'm a surgeon. Not exactly something that does well in the heat of battle.

[Sure there's his magic, but... that's not something Bruce will use unless he really really has to.]

And yet still necessary on the battlefield, or at least the aftermath of one. Surely you've been out there, seen the damage some of these battles inflict.

[Bruce is more than familiar with the heat of a battlefield; he's traveled across many of them during his time before the Inquisition. The sight of them is no stranger to him, by now - though it never gets easier.]

That doesn't mean I should have a mount of my own. I can travel just as well on foot.

Then what would you have done with this beast? [Too bad you're its owner now suck it up and deal.] If the decision were in your hands.

In any other circumstance, release it back to the wild. [But they both know how well that turned out.] ...right now its just trying to see what is the best solution.

[Malcolm moves down the line of mounts and stops at one of the stables, reaching out a hand and making a soft noise. A horse's nose appears eventually to snuffle and nuzzle.] You should figure out what to do with it soon before someone else does. Or before you're stuck fixing boarding for the rest of your time here. If someone else can be trained to ride it, or it trained to tolerate others, then it might be allowed to stay.

[A sharp sigh comes from Bruce at that. He knows that very well, and it would be a lie if he said that parts of him weren't currently in internal conflict on what to do. The decision should be obvious, but all the same...]

I'll think of something eventually.

[What that 'something', is, though, would be up for debate.]

[OPEN] Running with my roots pulled up

malcom doesn't deserve this

look just because his mount isn't super special

malcom deserves better things

tbf so does bruce. eventually. at the end of the day

far into the future more like tbh

deserves better when he's not being a lil shit

he has his moments

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