(open) one foot on the ledge

[ichaer]

WHO: Ciri and YOU!
WHAT: Arrival, settling and other general shenanigans catchall log for the month.
WHEN: Pre-Orlais, Solace.
WHERE: Skyhold, various
NOTES: None, currently but will update if needed.

✖ a. camp

Ciri's arrival comes not long after the arrival of the first new Warden from the Western Approach and she is dressed in equally unmistakable armor. After the long ride across Orlais and the trip through the Frostbacks, she arrives thoroughly exhausted in every sense of the word. With some direction from staff within Skyhold proper, she finds the camp and gives it a once over with a tired sigh. She ultimately finds a quiet place, open and hopefully not in use. It is nice to have solid ground under her feet once again, hardly missing the sand of the Approach and the black mare clearly seems to share the feeling as she trots around the small area.

She finally has to call Kelpie back over to pull the saddle, saddlebags and reigns from her. Everything is left on the ground is a messy heap as she pulls her hood down, running a calloused hand through messy white-grey hair and pondering on where to start with it all. Where to start besides passing out horse treats but that was a given and Kelpie seems delighted by it nonetheless. She's glad at least one of them has energy because eyeing her mess of supplies, equipment and other such leaves her feeling even more exhausted. Carefully, she unlatches her sword belt and slips the weapon onto the ground which she soon follows.

Despite her exhaustion, she cannot sleep and instead takes to caring for her sword. The whetstone, a gift and one of the few things she took from Weisshaupt, is slowly run along the blade in rhythmic motions. It would almost be relaxing if not for a certain horse and her determination for attention. It's adorable, honestly and she'll happily trot over to anyone within range for some extra attention as well.

✖ b. skyhold

It's been a few days since her arrival but it has been hard to settle into a routine. At Weisshaupt, she had kept a routine. At Griffon Wing Keep, she had kept a routine. Rountine kept her hands busy, her mind busier and kept her from wandering into memories that were not wise to dwell on for long periods of time. So, although it might not be routine, she is glad to wander and take it the groups milling about that were not wearing armor like herself. After all, she has nothing bad to say about the other Wardens gathered here but she has spent far too much time in the company of just Wardens to be healthy.

She does not stay in Skyhold proper but that does not stop her from exploring the grounds. The library does not hold her interest for long but she follows the rotunda, curiously gazing at the books present before slipping down a nearby stairwell. The kitchens are found by mistake, wandering down the wrong stairwell and likely following her nose without thought. Still, Ciri does not miss the opportunity to ask for apples or carrots that would not be used for a treat for her horse.

Time is spent in the tavern, enjoying music that is not like the one she had been hearing in her head before it thankfully stopped and a needed drink. Although usually not the most talkative Wardens, she takes interest in her neighbors and asks of their origins or reasons for traveling to some keep in the mountains. Again, it is simply nice to have the noise around her. She wanders near the courtyard later, watching anyone that might be practicing with a careful eye and sometimes with noted interest. After all, t was always good to keep an eye out for things she could incorperate into her own work outs.

✖ c. battlements

It has been close to a week now. After close to a week of mostly sleeping, eating and more sleeping, she is already to get back to work. She disapproves of the soft ground underfoot at camp so she makes her way up into Skyhold. Here, there is more space but although they have all of this space it is terribly overcrowded. It is tough to find a place train with the entire event almost becoming a game as she searches. Almost every space is taken up and taken up for hours afterwards with some eager recruits waiting on the sidelines, waiting patiently for space to free-up.

It is what ultimately drives Ciri upwards, up onto the battlements and to where she only has to worry about guards passing by on their rounds. It is exactly what she is used to but she makes use of the flatter areas of the battlements' wall and falls into a familiar work-out. There is no pendulum to strike but she imagines one, slicing her blade through the air as she moves along the length of the wall in an almost dance-like and graceful manner she certainly does not give off in her everyday interactions.

If anything this is easier than the logs, blindfold and giant log threatening to throw her several stories to the ground at any moment. Yet she still twists, flips, cartwheels and jumps as if it was no different from her old training days in the woods with the Rats.

✖ d. wildcard

For literally anything else around Skyhold and nearby locations. Feel free to hit me up at kaldwin or through PM if you'd like for me to set something up.

Comments

A

[circleprodigy]

Ciri isn't the only one exhausted; the lengthy trip had Inessa pushing onward with nary a complaint, eager to be out of the Western Approach. That eagerness meant a lack of breaks that could have been useful, though, so her energy is decidedly flagging by the time they reach the Grey Warden encampment. It's difficult to slouch in armor so that doesn't actually happen (plus the staff on her back doesn't allow for it), but the stiffness in her movements is there. Nonetheless, she doesn't seem to want to stop until everything is set up. Ciri shouldn't have to do it all on her own just because Inessa's much smaller and with a decided lack of muscles, and she won't hear talk of otherwise.

While Ciri tends to her sword, Inessa will set up a decent campfire. Fire magic isn't among her gifts, but she's traveled enough to set one up on her own. That does mean Garahel will be lacking her attention, though, so he'll 'talk' to Kelpie or try to get Ciri to pet him and maybe give him something to eat, because can't you tell he's starving?

Standing up and stretching a little once she finally gets the flames going, Inessa glances over and shakes her head. "Let her finish, Garahel. You, too, Kelpie. Maker, you're both a terrible influence on each other...." She reaches into her pack to distract the horse with an apple before tossing jerky for the mabari to fetch.

[ichaer]

It is terribly nice to relax even if it doesn't last for more than a moment. Not when there was a mabari and a mabari-like horse both in need of attention and affection. She's been sitting for what seems like months but her body does not want to move from its current space on the space on the ground, pressed against the saddle. Her armor makes it ever so slightly uncomfortable but it's fine and, honestly, she'd fall asleep right here if given the opportunity even though she knows there's a multitude of things to do before she can sleep. Clearly, this means giving said beasts the attention they so deserve and happily making kissy faces Garahel while trying to avoid anyone stumbling into her blade by accident.

"Maker only knows where they keep all that blasted energy." She says, laughing and slowly getting onto her feet. Her body groans against the movement but she sheathes her sword and lays it her other items. "I thought they would both be exhausted too but it's like we've traveled with toddlers instead."

Although she sighs, it is all in good nature and she reaches to start unhooking things in order to get the tent set up. "At least we can play fetch now without a certain someones getting mouthfuls of sand, huh?"

Kelpie happily snorts at the sight of an apple, trotting over and taking it from the Warden's hand before making her way back to an open patch of grass. Grass, nearby fresh water, cool weather and no sand -- this place was already a huge improvement from Griffon Wing Keep. There also wasn't any soldiers (that she could see) watching them so intently, likely waiting for something to go wrong and making her even more nervously paranoid. That's why she was here though, why she would stay here, so no one would look at them like that again.

[circleprodigy]

"You should have seen Garahel when he was a pup just learning to run, it was even worse then." The mabari tries to look innocent after inhaling that piece of jerky, but it's not like Ciri hasn't seen enough of his antics to knoe his true (goofy, unless in combat) nature by now. Satisfied that the horse is finally going to leave Ciri alone for a bit, she rubs the mabari's head, rolling her eyes when he perks up and barks at mention of playing fetch.

"You know that's not going to happen right now. But be a good boy and let us set up the tent and we'll treat you later. I promise." And she's always good on her word. Satifisfied at least for the time being, the mabari plops down and rolls around on the cool grass, enjoying the feel of it. Moving over to help Ciri with the tent supplies, she glances over and smiles. "I won't miss the sand, either. Between that and the blasted heat, it was too much. The invigorating mountain air will be a nice change."

'Invigorating' will change to 'harsh and face-numbing' in due time, but that's no reason not to enjoy what they have now. And she's just as glad to be away from the Western Approach, regardless. Scout Harding had a point; the place just felt wrong.

[ichaer]

"Tell me about it. I've never raised one personally but I have seen the, sometimes literal, blood, sweat and tears that goes into raising one of the hellion." She grins at the mabari as she speaks, offering it one of her rare wide smiles since everything went straight to hell and back. "Though you are an angel compared to some of the ones that I spent my company in."

No one should ever assume teen outlaws could raise animals. Most of them, anyway. Kelpie had been raised just fine and besides the pendant that hung around her neck, she was the only thing that tied her to that old life. That life before the Wardens.

"It will be nice to not be constantly finding it everywhere and in everything."

Mostly, and this goes unspoken, she feels better just to be further from Weisshaupt. Being stuck in a desert, culling darkspawn and little else had down nothing for her mood. This was better, she could focus here and actually help... hopefully. At least before everything got worse than it already was for them. Thankfully, a tent requires a lot of attention and it lets her focus on other things like trying to curve her anger before she knocked the thing over.

All that time on the road helped, at least though their new home away from home seemed so barren compared to the rest of the tents in the camp.

"Maybe we should see if they are hoarding any paints up there in Skyhold. Paint a giant portrait of Garahel on the side of the tent to ward off any unwanted guests or Orlesians."

She's joking... mostly...

[circleprodigy]

She's joking, but Inessa pretends to give it some serious thought as they continue setting up. Fereldan-Orlesian mutual disdain is supposed to be a thing, right? Though she can never understand how 'dog lord' is supposed to be an insult. Anyone who despises mabari and having a connection to them clearly has no taste.

"Tempting...but no, that would just give him even more of an inflated ego than he already has." Ignoring Inessa, Garahel happily barks at Ciri in response to the compliment. See, he's behaving himself and keeping out of their way for now. It's been a whole few minutes and he hasn't begged once! "That does remind me, I need to get more paint to redo that kaddis. If he keeps rubbing himself all over the grass, it's going to wear off soon, anyway."

She doesn't look over to the mabari, but knows he'll do his best to look innocent even as he returns to flopping on his back and wiggling on the cool grass.

"I'm not going to push for it now, but later on, I want to see where they're keeping the griffons. The hatchlings must have grown by now." Inessa smiles warmly at that, still finding it incredible that they exist at all. It's like something out of a bedtime story, only now they're tangible, breathing creatures.

C

[aceso]

Christine certainly didn't expect to see someone training up on the battlements like this. As she exits one of the battlement's towers, she's met with the sight of Ciri and the dangerous looking movements she's performing. It makes her want to call out to tell her to be careful, but what if that startles the woman and she goes flying off? And so while Christine says nothing, she does suck in a breath in worry.

She's a healer. Worrying is in her nature. Granted, most people who end up at the healers' tents do so because they've been foolish, and this looks rather foolish to Christine. But who would worry for fools if not for her?

[ichaer]

She takes three steps along the battlements, lifting her blade and striking it against an invisible target. Without pause, she jumps back and lands with a twist to raise her stance over more toward the target that only she could see. Her left foot shifts, raising to step out when the nearby tower door opens and she falters. Quickly, she rights her stance and straightens up to look at the unfamiliar face. One of many, many, many unfamiliar faces.

The continued look in her direction causes Ciri to furrow her brow in confused not anger. She turns to face Christine but does not leave the top of the battlements, idly bringing her hand to her face and the scar. A habit, she has, of rubbing the mark whenever she is unsure.

Which is often... like now.

"Am I in your way?" A glance is cast over her shoulder to the mountain range as she speaks, it was not one of the more impressive views of it and that is why she had chosen the spot. Though, given the lack of space, she might have taken someone spot on accident despite all the precaution.

[aceso]

"My way?" Christine asks, her Orlesian accent making itself known. "Maker, no! I was not planning on walking up there at all. What are you doing up there? What if you fall?" Please get down before Christine faints dead away. This is so dangerous.

[ichaer]

"Training and if I were to fall? Then I certainly hope I fall back onto the battlements not down a mountain." A half smile appears before Ciri ultimately sighs and nods. In a fluid motion, she sheathes her sword and steps off the battlements. Her armor clanks as she lands but she straightens herself upright with a tired sound, rolling her shoulder.

"There is really nothing to worry about as this is not exactly a new form of training for me. Usually, I'm blindfolded too."

[aceso]

"You and I both," she replies, sounding rather disconcerted. But at least the woman comes back down, and so Christine feels as though she can breath once more.

"Is this normal training for a Warden?" she asks skeptically. As far as she knows, none of the ones she's seen here have ever wandered the tops of the battlements blindfolded. Now other people, they have been seen climbing up the barn or stables or Skyhold itself. 'Parkour,' it's called. That's one way to get Christine to wring her hands nearby, just waiting for the fall.

B

[thecookery]

"You're aware of how many people we have to feed here, right?" Avery asks, arms crossed, motioning to the rest of the busy kitchen staff with her chin. It's not a refusal exactly, but she'd been the nearest and the one whose work needed constant attention the least at the moment, so she's the one who has to deal with the request of this stranger, whether she wants to or not.

And obviously that inconvenience means giving her a bit of a hard time, at the very least.

[ichaer]

"And I am sure there are plenty of those that take your work for granted. A certain merchant in the courtyard, for example, that sent me in this direction when he said I should bother someone with far less work than him for something so trivial."

Ciri's own arms are crossed but she watches the busy kitchen staff move around with a tiny smile. It was chaotic in here but she enjoyed that sort of thing especially after spending so much time in the valley camp recently where things could be considered... sullen, more often than not.

"Which is ridiculous to think of it as trivial when the mounts here are better company than most."

[thecookery]

She scoffs. "And more useful than half." Even if some of the mounts here are a bit... well, they're no Fereldan Forders. But they'll do.

"If those yammering old blowhards spent half the time working that they do telling people how hard they work, they might actually have something to sell worth the prices they charge. Maker forbid."

[ichaer]

"We might as well include the rest of the farm animals if we are comparing usefulness to some around here."

This place was nice and all but she cannot help but wonder where they found some of the people eagerly throwing themselves in uniform and picking up weapons. Not that she had much room to complain, she was here because she didn't have choice and she was certainly not going to hang out in a desert.

"Tell me about it. I could buy some damn decent armor for the price they were charging for blankets and paint."

[thecookery]

This time when Avery scoffs, there's almost a laugh mixed into it, if you tilt your head and squint. "Between them and the horses, I know which would cripple our defenses faster if they went underfed. 'Trivial...'"

She considers it for a moment longer, then turns and grabs a few carrots that were waiting to be cut. She starts to hold them out, but stops to say, "Don't make a habit of this though." Then she holds them out. "And you're new, right? Talk to the horsemaster if you haven't. He knows what he's doing. Takes good care."

And he doesn't force Avery to make conversation when she visits the stables, which is pretty great in her books.

b;

[hlif]

Part of Asher's regular routine involves coming up from the valley camp to train in Skyhold since there's a proper space for it rather than the crowded sprawl of tents, especially his own pitch with his whole mercenary company all clustered together in a little ring, decorated with kaddis. His old mabari hound is with him as ever, a mass of scars with one eye so white it's clearly sightless and another ear mostly missing, greying at the muzzle.

Yet for all that, he charges at his master when commanded, a tall man with his hair shaved at the sides but braided back at his scalp, running through a series of drills; the wrist, the ankle, the throat, behind and flank, so on and so forth.

And because he's a good lad, the best lad, aren't you old boy, on a particular charge the warrior catches the hound and heaves him up, turning around to meet her eye, man and dog both staring. The dog at least barks, but mabari have slightly more manners than part-Fereldan, part-Avvar mercenaries.

[ichaer]

It was always fascinating to see people work so close with mabari in battle drills. There had been a few that other members of the Rats had owned but none had ever been well trained and did little more than bark or roll over on command. In the end, she lingers and watches the pair go through their routine with interest before they both turn and meet her eye.

There is a moment of pause but the bark causes her to chuckle. "A pleasure." She says in response to the bark, offering the mabari a smile before turning her gaze back to Asher.

"I hope the two of you do not mind an audience."

[hlif]

"Not at all," with another grunt and a pause to cough, he sets the hound down so he can trot over to go sniff at the newcomer, wagging his stump of a tail happily. "That's Bronson, I'm Asher Hardie, captain of the Boneflayers. I run lessons for how to fight with mabari so that generally gets a few onlookers."

Probably more because Asher tended to rope in some of his company as hapless victims for a good old-fashioned mabari charge or whatever else he needed them to do but when they weren't doing paying jobs, they needed to earn their keep up in Skyhold too.

"But everyone needs to stay sharp, right?" And again, Bronson barks his agreement even if he's more interested in seeing if he'll be indulged with a scratch behind the ear because he's a shameless lump of a warhound.

[ichaer]

She drops to one knee as the mabari trots over, holding her hand out for him to sniff and smiling. These days spent with Garahel has made her fond of the great lovable beasts but perhaps that's the Fereldan in her coming out after being trapped so long in Orlais.

"Ciri, Grey Warden and that sounds like the sort of lesson that I could get behind." That was part of the point of dragging herself across Orlais wasn't it? Ciri was strong but she had to be stronger and part of that meant learning things she didn't expect herself to need in battle. Now, she needed every little thing that could help.

Again, she smiles and happily reaches out to offer some ear scratches. "We certainly can't afford to go getting soft now."

[hlif]

Orlais, if Asher was ever asked, was only tolerable if you were getting paid to be there and if you were in a position where you could still upset as many Orlesians as possible whilst still upsetting them. Easy being him. And taking his mabari to parties. Painted in kaddis. Both of them painted in kaddis.

"I usually drag up some of my crew to help with the lessons, no one seems to object to watching a hound charge down a pair of dwarves or knock the stuffing out of them themselves, it's good for everyone." Less so for Asher since he needs to sleep in the same camp as the dwarves but he's their boss so he pays them.

"Did you-" and this is probably going to be a stupid assumption to make but since Grey Warden automatically makes him think of a lost friend he'll continue, pushing past the lump in his throat. "D'you know Herc Hansen? I know you don't all know everyone but with everything going on..." He trails off, not entirely sure what the point of it was but a friend was a friend, and he didn't get enough time with him.

a

[scalethewall]

The sun is just starting to set when Blackwall works his way over to one of the tents he'd seen a new Warden claim. He does at least wait to come by and introduce himself until the day after her arrival, hoping by then she's had a decent chance to settle in. As one of the most senior Wardens it meant it was his job to be a welcoming comittee of sorts. These first meetings were always nerve wracking though.

He clears his throat loudly outside of her tent and pauses a moment.

"Warden Ciri?"

[ichaer]

The tent she shares with Inessa is still rather bare but small touches, she decides, could make it more homely. It was certainly more homely than the quarters she shared at Weisshaupt could ever be despite being a tent in some cold valley. After a long day and even longer trip beforehand, she's settling in for the night when an unfamiliar voice calls out to her.

Really, she should have returned to using Cirilla professionally. Warden Cirilla flowed together so much nicer or maybe she should have gone for a complete name change? Falka could have been nice.

Names aside, she curiously one of the tent flaps and peeks out. "You've found her."

[scalethewall]

"Ah, good. I was hoping you'd be around," He offers her a warm, beardy smile, "I'm Warden Blackwall. Been trying to make my rounds among the newcomers. Just wanted to welcome you to our humble little camp. Another name you'll want to learn, if you haven't already met her, is Warden Skraedder. She's the Warden liaison to the Inquisition.

How're you settling in?"

[ichaer]

"Mm, I heard about you from Inessa. As I told her, I'm glad to see someone of your rank managed to escape from all that nonsense since so many others..."

She sighs, shaking her head. "Anyway, I'll keep the name in mind and as for settling? Well, I'm just eager to get to work and help however I can."

[scalethewall]

"Uh... yes," He clears his throat a little awkwardly, "I was off deep in the back woods of the Hinterlands. Maybe there was a messenger who got lost that was supposed to get to me, but it never happened. Apparently, I was luckier for it. I don't envy what you, or anyone in Weisshaupt went through."

He gives her an approving nod at her eagerness, "I'm sure you'll find plenty to apply yourself to around here. There's certainly no shortage of things that need doing."