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

[gatheringstorm]

"And yet, assholes have tried just because they think my kind dumb muscle." Korrin rolls her eyes at that, then shakes her head at that question. "No, only mages can join and cast votes though anyone can attend. But considering they're working with apostates at all, that's still pretty damn progressive."

[alankazam]

People are the only kind of animal that assumes strong has to be stupid, too, that the two cancel each other out somehow. But even the biggest creatures need brains, and the Maker provides.

"I'd like to see it. If it's really alright. I've met so few of them — and everyone talking earlier, they were so," He waves a hand, lost for the right word. "— Could I go with you?"

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin nods, hardly about to turn his presence down. This might be good for him, and good for the Council. "Of course. I warn you that it can get pretty heated sometimes, and I'm only partly to blame there. We have a lot of people with a lot of strong opinions, so compromise isn't easy. But we have wine gatherings afterward, to decompress a little."

[alankazam]

"If nothing catches fire, it'll be less heated than the country."

But really, she had him at free stuff.

"The —" Rifters, that's what everyone was calling them now. "— Rifters, have any of them been mages?"

He assumes if she's sleeping with one, she'll know.

[gatheringstorm]

"...yes and no. Some of them have powers that we could call magic, but practically none of them knew about the Fade until they arrived here. Either they had a rough equivalent or none at all, which is just weird to think about. Their magic can be very different, too, and they have a wide variety between them. As for treatment, it runs the gamut from a lot better than our situation to a lot worse. Hermione, who'd call herself a witch instead of a mage, says that she went to a school to learn magic...but that it was voluntary, and that students could still see their families. No phylacteries, no Harrowings, no Templars to slaughter them. Nice, huh?"

i am so sorry for the delay on this dude, i got sick and have had no head for log tags

[alankazam]

"It sounds like it could be a home."

It sounds like it was home, like home used to be, but deep in his heart Alan knows that learning was never voluntary. Everyone had to do their part.

"If you'd been her, do you think you still would've tried to learn?"

it's fine!

[gatheringstorm]

That question is one Korrin has asked herself before, yet she hesitates when Alan asks it aloud. "...maybe? I don't know. I don't regret the magical education I had, it prepared me to be a good mercenary. But the chance to socialize with and learn alongside other mages...it would have been tempting. What about you?"

[alankazam]

"I don't regret it either." Mostly. Sometimes. Next question. "Something like that — it could be important. But it isn't the only way to learn. Like your family,"

Like his.

"Like a lot of them, out there. But I don't know. A man on the crystal — Anders — he was talking about schools, too. I don't know that they value the way we learned."

It's more of a problem without another mage in the family, Alan supposes. Still, it doesn't seem like it should be the only option; there are things you can't learn in books.

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin's expression hardens at mention of Anders, tensing in a moment. "I'm not interested in what that mass-murdering fuckhead has to say, unless it's his intention to jump off a cliff."

Well. Never let it be said that she holds back on her feelings. "And that's the thing, if it's non-Andrastian and non-human, I have my doubts that other values would be respected. Even if they don't mean to, it'd be easy to assume it's the same way for everyone and go from there."

[alankazam]

Alan blinks. It's the information, not the delivery. He trusts Korrin, but — Anders had seemed so helpful. Loud, and not a likely candidate for compromise, but,

"Mass-murdering." A beat. Well. Okay. He turns aside slightly, swipes the bangs from his face. It's a small gesture of agitation, but it's there. "Ah —?"

Forgive him, he's rather lost that train of thought.

[gatheringstorm]

"You must've heard about what happened in Kirkwall by now, right? With the Chantry blowing up and killing a lot of people? That's his doing. The Mage-Templar War had a lot of factors behind it, and he was one of them. So, no, I don't trust him or his brand of extremism, either. The Inquisiton's going to pay for sparing him; if not now, then later." Blunt and more blunt. Korrin actually doesn't spell a lot of time ranting about this, just because the subject matter gets her riled up and she'd rather not spend her time constantly ranting like a crazy person.

[alankazam]

"Ye...yes." He'd certainly heard about that. He'd heard about that in great detail and invective — and absent of certain identifying names. "Maker."

He doesn't swear, not unless it's bad. He also doesn't usually advocate execution, not unless it's real bad. This situation qualifies for both.

"Why is he alive?"

Alan finally blurts out.

[gatheringstorm]

Letting out a sigh, Korrin crosses her arms. "Because the Grey Wardens reclaimed him, and the Inquisition still needs the Wardens or at least they think they do. Not wanting to lose them, the advisors said more or less that the Champion of Kirkwall's original decree of sparing him was still valid. I can only imagine the arguments that took place over that, but in any case, that's the official story. We're stuck with him, until the southern Wardens leave or Coryphues overruns us."