OPEN | Hello...

[alankazam]

WHO: Alan + OTA
WHAT: Arrival Catchall
WHEN: Backdated, pre-Orlais Stuff
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: Minor nudity in one prompt. Wildcards 100% welcome, feel free to HMU if you'd like a starter!

A || ROOKERY

There’s a naked man in the Rookery.

Maybe you needed to send a letter, or perhaps you were checking in with a scout.

Or — well, you’re here now at any rate, and there’s a naked man in the Rookery, ravenously shoveling handfuls of dry corn into his mouth. The birds squabble and hop between his shoulders, cawing with indignation.

He looks up to you slowly, making full and uncomprehending eye contact.

“Hello,” Alan mumbles through a mouth full of kernels. Nailed it.



B || AROUND SKYHOLD

Clothes have been obtained. Thanks to the harried ministrations of the Inquisition’s launderers, it’s a bit mismatched.

Maybe it’s a set from the uniform for the order of your choice — Templars, Wardens, the robes of a Chantry member. Gender doesn't seem to have played a major role in the selection criteria. Maybe that's even your stuff! 

"Do you know where we sleep?" 



C || WHEREVER FOOD IS EATEN

It's food o'clock, for those thrifty souls eating on the Inquisition's dime. The latest kitchen staff (apparently) seems quite cheerful about it, as he passes you a mug of stew.

“It’s horse,” Alan reassures, as though this is the finest signature of quality. “Grass-fed.”

It’s also a substantial bit spicier than usual. Someone let him help.



D || LIBRARY

It's not uncommon to find strangers here, furtively pouring over Skyhold's small collection. It's a little less usual to see them making their own additions, particularly to the rarer works of certain esteemed, scholarly explorers.

Someone should probably put a stop to that. Or join in.

Comments

[alankazam]

Well, that'd do it.

"They said that no one was using it." A shrug. "They said that they'd — you'd —"

"— Gotten bad sick, like in the head, all loopy as a dog," He's parroting, from the peculiar tone his voice assumes. He's clearly memorized the phrase. "So I figured you'd died and they were being, you know."

Alan makes the sign against evil.

"You can have it back, if you want,"

He's already weaseling the thing up over his head. There's definitely nothing on underneath.

[onlyhymns]

Cade's grumpy expression slowly transforms into one of deep hurt, and he keeps his eyes directed away from Alan, a nervous and embarrassed blush already forming over most of his face.
"No, keep it," he snaps, looking back just in time to see the shirt nearly half-off, and he looks away with a small noise of disgust. He sets down his plate and moves to leave, head low, a retreat if there ever was one.

[alankazam]

Alan shuffles the sweater back on, eyes torn between the food and Cade. He's messed this up somehow. He can't pinpoint how, but he has, and he promised the kitchen staff that he wouldn't.

He scoops up the stew, and hurries after.

"Wait — look," He gestures out with the stew. "I'm not, I mean you're obviously not dead. And you don't seem sick. There's no reason for them to give your things away."

There'd be even less reason if he was sick, Alan doesn't want to take with a pox and die just because Skyhold's drafty. But that's probably not the right thing to say either.

[onlyhymns]

Great, being followed! Cade loves that almost as much as he loves being mocked, which on some level he's also certain is what Alan is doing. He tries to walk faster, but is also, as usual, aware that that will never stop somebody who's truly persistent. So when he reaches the door, he turns to regard the man with a look both angry and pleading.
"Leave me alone," he says, in a tone that isn't hostile but might become so if he's pressed.

[alankazam]

"Alright," But he offers the stew again, even as he hangs back a step. "Will you take your food, though?"

Alan's totally fine with eating it himself. He's considering it, right this very moment, with the distant awareness that if he ruins this with more people, he can keep eating more than his share. But probably someone would find out, and it definitely wouldn't count as trying harder.

A beat, then inspiration:

"A horse died for this. It shouldn't go to waste."

[onlyhymns]

Cade stares at him like he's a crazy person for several moments, well aware that he himself is a crazy person, then looks despondently down at the offered bowl.

"...I don't want to eat a horse," he says miserably. Horses are nice. He knows a few.

[alankazam]

"Oh," Alan just tilts his head to the side, and blinks. He can't think why anyone wouldn't, so — "Why not?"

It's not like it's going to get any less dead.

[onlyhymns]

Alan is pressing him, and Cade hates being pressed. He takes another step back, glancing unhappily between the man and the bowl. "...I just don't," he murmurs, praying that it'll be enough. He's starting to feel his chest tightening and his thoughts beginning to race, which means it's time to bail before something bad happens.

[alankazam]

"Well." This is still a foreign concept, one he's trying hard to process. "Is it just the horse that's the problem?"

He steps back, searching for the spoon. His side is turned, momentarily distracted — here's your chance, Cade.

"I guess we could bring something else, they got a raccoon —"

[onlyhymns]

Cade peaces entirely out before Alan can turn around again. He likely will not return until someone forces him to, which may be sooner than any of us think.