OPEN | Sitting near the fireplace

[pinprick]

WHO: Nathaniel Howe
WHAT: Open Post/Catch-All for October
WHEN: All month long
WHERE: Camp Shady, the Kestrel House, and Skyhold
NOTES: Will update with any warnings.

I.

Today is damp and drizzly, a bad day for the rheumatism that has plagued him on and off since the fight with Vengeance. He looks wan, and unlike other days, he spreads a blanket out before a fire in the Warden camp, pulls his hood up, and reclines against cushions and bedrolls as he cooks.

Yes, Nathaniel Howe is cooking.

Most of it is stirring pots of things. At one point, he is on his feet kneading bread. Then he is putting it in the small cast iron oven and covering it with hot ash to leave it to bake.

Join him in preparing the food, or in eating it, or simply while he reclines and sips from a mug of anti-inflammatory tea Anders made for him.

II.

On fair days, Nathaniel is at the range, shooting from bows of varying draw weights, saving the heaviest--his ancestral bow--for last. At times, he sets aside the bow and picks up a sword, going through exercises so ingrained that they become meditative, even nostalgic.

III.

In the Herald's Rest, Nathaniel has learned most of the songs and can sing along with them, though he has no idea who this Sera is or why the minstrel thinks "Enchanter" is pronounced that way. They're catchy songs, especially the one about taking back the sky and the one about Sera. The important thing is that they're singable and lift the spirits.

With no one listening, Nathaniel's singing voice is soft, low, and scratchy, but he can carry about three-quarters of the tune without a problem, sliding between notes like he's finding his footing on a muddy uphill climb and arriving just after the note is supposed to be sung.

IV. - Wildcard

Comments

[sunshinethroughgrey]

A soft smile touched her face, making her eyes brighten and her cheeks glow brighter. She hummed for a moment, as she fiddled with the food in front of her, before she stated simply, "I told him how difficult it would be, to have a child together. I didn't tell him anything on what I am - we are - working towards but ... he still wants to marry me."