faderift | When my time comes around [OPEN]

WHO: Raylan Gibbs and YOU!
WHAT: open/catch-all for August and whatever the hell september is called
WHEN: mid-August through mid-Kingsway
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: see subject lines for warnings and closed starters, feel free to PM or PP if you want something closed. also feel free to be like I DO WHAT I WANT and just tag me with something random.

1.no grave can hold my body down
Raylan had borrowed a staff, while his was being repaired, and headed to the training grounds. It had occurred to him that it had been nearly a year since anyone had been making him practice, and given the current state of the world, he could grudgingly admit that he should probably not get too rusty on the ability to fight. He also had a plain staff, a nonmagical one, that he could use to practice the movements if the magical staff was too heavy or he couldn't control it. He had no idea where his strength was at, at the moment.

He could be found near the edge of things with the plain staff, magical staff leaned against a wall nearby. He wore a shirt and pants as usual, instead of announcing to all who passed by that he was a mage by his clothing. He spent awhile just flipping the staff around, casually and sloppily running himself through the movements to warm up and remind his muscles what they were doing. After some time of that he started hitting a dummy with it, and when he felt confident, started trying to burn up one of the fireproof dummies. He was still sloppy and obviously weak, but he was well-trained and the movements came naturally. He was pleased to note that his aim was as good as ever. He'd be sore for a couple of days, but once that went away, he'd be back again, so there was plenty of opportunity to catch him.

2.i'll crawl home to her
There was only so long a person, even a mage of twenty-five years' education, could read incredibly dull academic tomes on the Fade before one's eyes started to bleed. Thus, Raylan would be found up on a wall of Skyhold, visible from the courtyard, facing out to look at the camp. He didn't seem nervous about falling, perched on the edge of a wall in the middle of a windy mountain range. He was just sitting there and watching the various movements of people, letting the cold air wake him up. The incredible views of the mountains around them were clearing his head.

3.when my baby found me
Raylan's laboratory, such as it was, existed in the Skyhold dungeon. It had been a small storage room full of ruined lumber, and he'd cleared it out in exchange for getting to claim it. Fire had been involved. It was big enough for a desk, a chair, a bed, and Raylan, and that was just about it. The quartermaster kept him in candles and he borrowed books from the library (and mostly he even returned them). He holed up and kept to himself, except for late morning to mid afternoon every day. He was actually working, even though the door didn't necessarily give that impression.

Three pieces of parchment were stuck to it with paste, and each had been written on with ink and a finger, so the words could be read from far away:

INQUISITION RESEARCH
VERY IMPORTANT
GO AWAY

The first knock someone gave was likely to be met with a distracted shout along these lines, but at a second attempt, he might open the door, heaving a put-upon sigh as he did.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"I will," he said, nodding.

"Of course I've been sleeping," Raylan said, looking mildly affronted. "I slept an hour about..." He trailed off, thinking about it. "Well I can't very well be expected to know how much time has passed down here, I don't have any sun to see, do I?" An artful deflection, as he'd realized he had no idea how long ago that nap had been. He hadn't had to go teach any kids today, another teacher had had them, so he'd been down here since breakfast. He'd definitely slept at least an hour at some point after breakfast.

It's not as if Bruce is entirely innocent himself in the whole 'being so busy until not realizing what time it is' shtick, so he doesn't have much of a space to speak. But still even with that said...

"It is getting pretty late, so it might be a good time to get some rest after you're done with the food," he remarked with an arched eyebrow. "Whatever you're doing can probably wait until tomorrow." He wouldn't force the issue or anything if Gibbs wanted to keep up and do his thing, but as a surgeon he should at least say something. Last thing he wanted was to have another patient to deal with just because he was too busy to take care of himself.

Raylan made a disgruntled sound, but he supposed he could write down where he'd been on everything and pick it up in the morning, when he was fresh.

"Want to sit?" he offered. There was a small table and two chairs nearby, under a torch so there was light. Raylan tried to keep food out of his lab -- he'd hate to have to vacate and look for new space on account of ants or something similarly stupid and preventable. "I'm going to sit," he said, taking the food and carrying it over to said table, leaving the door cracked behind him.

Bruce had been entirely prepared to take his leave now that he's done what he came here for, but when he's got an invitation like that its not like he can really turn it down. It'd just be a bit too rude especially when they're not that all familiar.

"...sure," he went after a pause before making his way over to the spare chair and proceeds to settle down onto it. Hopefully not as awkwardly as he thinks it is. And if it is he certainly hopes that Gibbs doesn't catch it.

Edited 2016-08-19 17:33 (UTC)

The awkwardness was not lost on Raylan, and he raised an eyebrow. "You don't have to, mate," he said, settling down with his food. "Was just an invitation."

He realized, upon smelling the food, that he actually was viciously hungry, so he started eating. He didn't know much about Bruce, but he could probably do with looking at a human face for a minute, and he was aware that the man was a mage, so why not?

Well now that he said it Bruce could only feel even more awkward about the whole thing. He knows full well that this isn't a big deal at all, but still--

"Sorry, I didn't mean to make it uncomfortable." He does his best to clear the air, complete with apologetic look. "Just not something I'm very used to." He's not the most approachable person, the whole mage thing was still a sore spot for several people. By now its just easier to not stick around with people - less trouble that way.

"Yeah, me neither," Raylan said. People certainly avoided him because of the mage thing, too, and he was grumpy enough to push the unsure ones to the other side of the line. Raylan didn't feel like constantly coddling and soothing the fears of those who weren't sure about mages. But that wasn't a problem with his fellow mage, was it?

"I'm supposed to be talkin' to more people," he admitted. "Mages in particular. Bein' on the Council and everything."

It certainly would be hypocritical if he avoided other mages. His own issues with mages was pretty much limited to himself, anyway; the other mages had no part in it. None of them chose to be this way, and he wasn't going to make things harder for them because of it. As long as they weren't clearly up to trouble, he had no issues.

"Ah." The Council... even after being outed Bruce still made it a point to avoid them; being what he was it was hard to feel like he had a right to anything at all, and politics had never been something that he liked anyway. The attention was another thing as well; better to just keep low and minimize risk however he could. "Can't say I know all that much about it, but I'm sure it's good to have another voice to join the others."

Raylan shrugged. "I don't do much I wouldn't be doing anyway," he admitted. "Teach kids and keep my nose in a book, like I did in the circle." He said it with a self-deprecating little smile. "Turn up to meetings to tell everyone they're stupid and then go away again." Of course, his stances were usually considerably more substantial and respectful than he portrayed, but the dumb redneck persona was sort of his thing. It was good for keeping people from getting intimidated by him if he didn't want them to be.

Despite himself Bruce can't help but laugh a little - a small, quiet one, with not that much amusement in it, but its still a laugh all the same. "Sounds like what I might do - well, maybe minus the last part." He was probably more inclined to try and make suggestions to improve things instead if needed, or just ignore stupidity entirely if it wasn't worth the effort.

Still, it didn't really matter now.

"It ain't so bad," Raylan said. "Someone actually listening to us is an interesting change." Any circle mage who tried to talk about politics or the structure of the circle would generally be told to get back to their books and shut up. It was almost a relief, to let out the opinions he'd had all these years and feel heard.

Being listened to was certainly a thing, though its hard to say if it was a good thing or a bad thing still. Bruce personally found it hard to stay optimistic, but again - its not like his opinion held any weight in these matters.

"I'm just glad its been doing well enough still." Especially considering the fiasco that had been Anders revealing himself it'd have been easy for the council to be shut down if desired. The fact that it hadn't had been a little surprising, but Bruce was glad for it. Or at least, glad that the people involved still had their chance to prove themselves.

When my time comes around [OPEN]

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