You'll fight and you'll make it through

[bookish_lioness]

WHO: Hermione and OPEN!
WHAT: Catch-all for the month (let me know if you'd like a particular starter)
WHEN: Wintermarch, going into Guardian if need be
WHERE: Throughout Skyhold
NOTES: Feel free to assume prior minor CR between them, especially if your character would have taken/taught any classes involving magic or Thedosian history/culture. I'm willing to handwave more major previous CR if that would make the thread move along more easily, but we can hash out those details either via PM or on plurk (StarryOblivion).

Archery range

To her credit, Hermione was trying.

Her magic still wasn't coming along as seamlessly as she would hope, and so she'd bitten the bullet and decided that she'd need to learn other ways of defending herself, since she couldn't rightfully stay within the confines of Skyhold forever. Most weapons were too large or heavy for an untrained person of smaller stature, and the ones that weren't would force her to get much closer to an enemy than she would want to, especially if bloodshed was going to be involved. Given all that, archery seemed the best bet. She could stay a safe distance from most of the fighting and also run with her weapon without it tripping her up or throwing off her balance. And besides, she'd used a bow and arrow before.

Once.

For fun.

And she hadn't been very good.

Which explained why she'd raised the bow before the arrow was properly nocked, resulting in the arrow unexpectedly flying loose with an almost comical twang! and a gasp from the startled young witch. She widened her eyes as she instinctively looked around, hoping that no one had seen that, before realizing that she should be more concerned with where the arrow had gone and fervently hoping it hadn't managed to somehow hit someone.

Perhaps she should stay away from weapons for a while?

Training Grounds

She'd made it quite clear to anyone who offered to spar with her that she didn't know the first thing about fighting without any sort of magic, but even so, Hermione wasn't really going to leave anything to chance. She'd been tortured before, and while no physical injury could match what had been done to her, she still wasn't a big fan of pain and was in no hurry to subject herself to any injuries that may require more than a quick visit to the healing tents.

Long hair pulled back into a bun and wearing as much light armor as she could get away with without hindering her movement, Hermione always stood stiffly as she eyed her opponent, looking for weaknesses. She was small and fairly fast, so if she could assess her situation before the match even started, she could try to use that to her advantage and end things as quickly as possible. Still, she was here to learn, and one didn't learn without asking questions, so there was no shortage of those as she awkwardly went through the motions each and every time.

"Is my stance all right? Where should my hands be while I'm defending myself? You're not going to actually hit me hard, are you? I don't fancy a broken nose, and I'm not looking to hurt you. You know I'm only looking to defend myself, don't you? You'll stop if I ask you to, won't you? What should I be doing with my feet?"

On and on it went, and if she couldn't get herself used to any kind of bare-handed combat, Hermione was just going to have to get her hands on her own staff and start practicing a different sort of sparring, assuming that her mage friends wouldn't mind showing her how to use a staff in a less traditional sort of way.

The Baths

While she always did what she could to keep herself clean, Hermione had managed to avoid the baths for an extended period of time. It was easy enough when making water was one of the only spells she could still reliably do, and she'd been forced to get used to limited hygiene during the year she'd spent on the run. But now that she was actually involved in regular physical activity, she couldn't really make do with a quick wash or a mostly-clothed dip in the bath.

Though it always seemed like most of the people she would see down there relished their time in the water, Hermione had never exactly enjoyed communal baths. Still, she did happen to go down there while it was mostly empty, and there was no rule saying she had to be completely nude to get herself clean. She was a grown woman, and if she wanted to sit in a bath with her underwear on, she was surely entitled to it.

Besides, the hot water felt good on her sore muscles (she was getting muscles now; when did that happen?), and so it was easier for her to relax than she might have thought otherwise. So long as no one tried to engage her in conversation while their privates were less-than-private, she could almost enjoy soaking in there for a bit.

Library

The drawback to not having your own small, private, contained bath was that you couldn't read in the tub, and despite her newer hobbies, reading will always be Hermione's first love. While she might not be as much of a fixture in the library as she used to be upon her initial arrival, anyone looking for her could simply hang about the vicinity long enough and she would find her way back there before too long. These days, she mostly read for the various classes she was taking, but she still found the time to read one of the "lighter" books available in Skyhold's library. Sometimes, these books were written with a very marked biased, and whoever might be sitting close enough to the young rifter might be drawn into a heated discussion over said bias. It was all right, though; she usually kept her voice down, given that it was a library.

Wildcard!

Choose your own adventure!

Comments

Baths

[wontforgetyou]

At one point in time, the idea of a regular bath would've been something Jamie would've scoffed at. That's not to say that he never bathed - because even then people did bathe - but it was a once in awhile sort of thing, not something that was done all the time.

That'd changed once he'd met the Doctor. Over time, he'd learned to get cleaned up more frequently, and while there were times that he'd forget or not decide to bother, a pointed word or two from the Doctor had set him back on track. By the time he'd fallen through the rift, a regular bath had become a habit, something he'd kept up even though there weren't any private places to bathe in Skyhold. They'd never really had that back in Scotland, anyway. No, what he still was trying to get used to was the idea of sharing the baths with both sexes. Out of politeness he tended to try and avoid the baths when he knew that one of the lasses was down there, but sometimes he couldn't avoid it.

And sometimes he didn't wind up paying enough attention - like the day he'd gotten back from yet another trip to the Hinterlands. This one had been to welcome the new rifters, and things had been strange. Stranger than usual, anyway, given his run-in with that odd Scotsman who seemed to know who he was. They'd never gotten the chance to talk on the way back, though, leaving Jamie still clueless as to who it could be...and more than a little distracted, something that came into play when he wandered into the baths.

Caught up in his own thoughts, he automatically started to strip down - only for a flicker of movement to catch his eye just as he pulled his shirt off over his head. That by itself was enough to stop him before anything else came off, but it didn't stop him from taking a look - or from stammering as realization hit and he quickly looked away again.

"Hermione?! Er, ah...s-sorry, I didn't realize you were down here."

[bookish_lioness]

All it had taken was a moment of closing her eyes and allowing herself to relax, and Hermione completely missed the arrival of someone new and familiar until he was already missing clothes. At the sound of her name, her eyes flew open and she gasped as she instinctively dipped a bit lower in the water, as though there was anything that would really stem the awkwardness of the situation.

"Jamie!" She could feel her face growing hot without the aid of the bath. If nothing else, she'd seen men in various states of undress before, and had changed her own clothes entirely in front of Ron and Harry without the world ending. But that had usually been in a flurry of nervous activity, without the time or luxury to remember about anything as trivial as bodies or hormones. There was time and a certain degree of luxury here, and those things suddenly felt less trivial as she forced herself to make eye contact no matter what else he ended up taking off.

"Hello, yes, well... it's a public bath, and I assume we both bathe on occasion so it should be no surprise that we would meet here at some point." Though given the slightly-off pitch of her voice, it was a surprise, no matter how much she might try to politely smile and offer small talk. "This isn't, um... uncomfortable for you, is it? I'm wearing, you know, underthings, so I'm sure you've probably seen worse at the beach."

... or maybe not, considering when he was from and the sorts of swimsuits they had back then. Right. She'll just sink a little bit lower in the water then and try not to drown herself.

[wontforgetyou]

At least Hermione was wearing something, which made the whole thing slightly less awkward.

Slightly.

That still didn't stop Jamie from clearing his throat as he wound up twisting the shirt in his hands, undecided if he wanted to put it back on or not. In the end, he wound up leaving it off - but kept his kilt firmly in place.

"Er, well, depends on the beach. There was this time that the Doctor...aye, well, never mind that." When he looked back, though, he seemed a little more settled, although his eyes stayed on Hermione's face, rather than straying downward.

"But no, I'm alright. Just a bit surprised, that's all. Ah...what about you, though? If my being here is bothering you..."

library — just lmk if anything needs changing!

[limier]

"Well," Wren considers at length how to put this. It's one thing to know of the Rifters' presence. It's another to be confronted with the culture shock, firsthand. "The potential for magical abuse of the body is... notable."

"There's not much you can do with teeth, from my understanding. But collecting the parts of others is liable to attract ill rumour."

She quietly shuts her own book, a slim volume in Tevene — some sort of guidebook to statuary.

"Val Royeaux keeps some dedicated dentists, and a good barber-surgeon is always in some demand. But... in these times." A shake of the head.

looks good! ♥

[bookish_lioness]

"Dentists, really?" Hermione asks, unable to help but be intrigued. "I just sort of assumed... well, it's complicated, really." How would she explain that she grew up in a world with advanced medicine but went to school in another "world" that doesn't have any of those things?

"I know that medicine and surgery exist in Thedas, but I've never really been sure of what extent. Magic and medicine usually seem to be at odds with one another. Even though, really, they shouldn't be, not here where magic is out in the open the way it is. Granted, given that the magic here has a different source than the sort of thing I know of back home, I can understand why some people might be against delving too deeply into certain types of healing, especially if surgical procedures were to be involved. That can easily lend itself to the Dark Arts-... or blood magic, as it's better known here."

If nothing else, the repulsed look on her face shows just what she thinks of that, even if she has met some mages who've tried to claim that there are benefits to such a heinous thing.

flipped a coin, got baths. could swap for library, though, if you think that'd be more fun.

[lionheartedman]

Some things will never change. It might be viewed as a sort of comfort, a constant in a world full of turmoil. The sun will rise, honey will be sweet, water will be wet, and Puppy will fail to realize just how large he's become.

He leads Cullen by a good two minutes on the way to the hot springs. That will probably also never change. Still, the Commander is not going to complain. Far worse things in the world than a Mabari who loves water. Particularly when said hound refuses to sleep anywhere but half on top of you.

Hermione will hear the dog long before she sees him, and have an armful of happy wiggly massive puppy long before she either hears or sees Cullen.

Puppy is good regardless of where Puppy might be. o/

[bookish_lioness]

While most of her trips to the baths usually consist of a quick wash-down while making minimal eye contact, Hermione's actually had reason to indulge in a decent soak, and so she's doing just that when she hears heavy footsteps. They're too quick to belong to a single person, and given the panting she can pick up on even before she opens her eyes, she figures that it's not a person at all. But it's not as though someone would wash off a pet the same place they'd-...?

And then there's a splash, and she sits straight up, instinctively reaching out to cradle the animal that may have just fallen into the water. She doesn't know if it's panicked or scared or lost or blind, but when she realizes that it seems to be doing all right for itself, she lets out a relieved breath.

"Easy, easy there," she murmurs before laughing as she realizes that the sturdy dog is trying to lick her face. It's either an exceptionally friendly sort of thing or else it belongs to someone she knows, and most of the other mabari who'd react that way around her are much larger, so it doesn't take long for her to figure out to whom he belongs.

"Run off from Cullen again, did you? Am I going to have to get dressed and see to it that the two of you are reunited?"

training grounds.

[liberalum]

"Now that won't do."

The voice comes from somewhere behind Hermione. Whatever training staff she's managed to acquire is more under Dorian's scrutiny than the girl herself. Almost every day, he can be found on the training grounds early in the morning. Earlyish. Later, if he'd been drinking the night prior. The next day, if he'd been drinking a lot. But here he is now, present and awake and dressed in light leathers he wouldn't weep over if they got a little muddy.

He offers her his own staff -- a non-magical blunt instrument, not much longer than the one she has now, but heavier. Unfairly so, one would say. "Here, see how you like this. That is to say, you won't like it, but that's rather the point."

[bookish_lioness]

Hermione had been looking among those waiting their turn to spar, hoping to be paired off with a partner who wouldn't mind countering a staff and who wouldn't automatically panic at the mere implication of magic. Considering that she isn't actively doing anything, she doesn't think that the voice behind her is talking to her, but when she notices the vaguely-familiar man apparently surveying her (or rather, her staff), she shifts a little uncomfortably.

Before she can ask after what he's talking about, he's offering up his own staff, and she blinks for a moment. It's clearly much nicer than the basic wooden weapon in her hands - not that that would be difficult - and though she gingerly reaches out for it, she intends to tell him that won't be necessary.

Of course, she's left frowning a bit as she tries to pick up the staff, carefully setting the other one down so she can maneuver it with both hands. "This is so heavy! You don't actually carry this around with you all the time, do you? You'd be a hunchback!"

{ archery range }

[aceso]

There is no real reason for Christine to be down at the archery range, but she spots Hermione from afar and makes her way over to see how she's doing now. Last time they spoke, Hermione didn't seem well and Christine hopes she's improved. It isn't easy to be trapped in a situation you want no part of, as they all well know, and comfort can be hard to provide when you're also stuck in the middle of things.

She comes towards Hermione from the side, but adjusts her steps to lead her a little behind her friend for safety as well. Good thing too, as the arrow goes flying off. Christine chuckles, lifting a hand towards her mouth.

"Oh, Maker! And I thought Church was bad with a crossbow."

[bookish_lioness]

The more important thing is that the arrow hadn't hit anyone. That's what Hermione has to keep telling herself, especially after hearing the commentary from Christine. She knows the other woman doesn't mean anything by it, but Gryffindor pride has a way of rearing its ugly head at the most inopportune moments.

"What? No, I meant to do that! It was... a test! To see what would happen if the arrow isn't... isn't, um....." Ah. And now in her fluster, she's forgotten the proper word.

"... nocked! If the arrow isn't nocked properly! After all, certain safety measures are overlooked in the heat of battle, so it's good to know what will happen if you're careless enough to...." Pressing her lips together for a moment, Hermione finally manages to chuckle a little at her own absurdity.

"You're not buying any of that, are you?"

Archery!

[conqueredhearts]

Iskandar had been walking by when there had been an arrow that thudded into the ground hear him. Blinking, he looked down at it then looked over to who had shot it and laughed at the surprise on Hermione's face. Leaning down, he pulled it free from the ground and made his way over to her to offer the arrow back to her. He didn't look at all offended to have nearly been shot.

"I didn't see your stance but I'm certain that is not how you use a bow. Would you like some aid?"

It was the least that he could do. He was familiar with the bow even if it wasn't his preferred weapon. He could teach her to use it properly so it would be a better feel for her. After all, it could be quite a good one to have around when one knew how to use it!

[bookish_lioness]

Hermione actually jumped when she saw how close the arrow had come to hitting Iskandar, even though she was under the impression that, even if it had hit him, it wouldn't have actually done him much damage. That wasn't the point, though. The point was that she'd nearly shot him!

... and yet, he still looked as though he'd just overheard her telling a good joke. She'd never understand this person.

"I'm so sorry!" she blurted out, quickly taking the arrow and putting it behind her back as though to hide an offensive object from sight. "Sorry, it just... slipped. I should probably steer clear of projectiles, honestly. Or at least practice when there aren't other people around. I don't want to hurt anyone."

Training Grounds

[in_death_sacrifice]

A regular at the training grounds, Kain is always up for offering assistance whenever needed. There are combatants here of all skill levels, after all. He sees Hermione practicing, so figures some advice is the least he can do. "That's not bad, though you want to change your stance like so." Kain demonstrates, shifting a bit on his feet to give her the idea. "You don't want it to be too stiff, either... the idea is to be able to move fast when your opponent strikes."

He can see why she'd wanted the practice, she seems unused to this sort of thing, even if she's also eager and willing to learn. Those are good things. "Have you done any other sort of combat before?"

[bookish_lioness]

It's easy, Hermione thinks, for most people around here to tell her she's being too stiff, and not at all easy for her to do anything about it. Even without being in any sort of real danger, she knows just what it is she's training herself for, and it's hard to be relaxed and loose when she knows that whatever she's learning to do or not do may play a part in whether or not she walks away from her next mission.

She tries to mimic the man at her side when he corrects her stance, but she can't help feeling clumsy and awkward. While she'd always been healthy, she's never been fit, and that's never been clearer than it is right now. "Not anything physical," she replies with a shake of her head. "Magical, mostly. But most of what I know doesn't apply here, so I should probably come to rely on something else."

Library

[gatheringstorm]

"You're making that face again." Korrin smirks as she looks over from the shelf where she's snagging some alchemy books for her class. It's not her intention to remain in the library for that long, but Hermione's presence can't go unnoticed, especially when she looks so intent. "You know, the one that says 'this book is getting on my nerves, and I need to rant about it'."

[bookish_lioness]

As much as she should hate proving Korrin right about the idea that she needs to rant, Hermione can't help wrinkling her nose and reading out loud as soon as she realizes she has someone else's attention. "'The modern Chantry is a thing of faith and beauty, but it is also a house of necessity, protecting Thedas from powerful forces that would do it harm. Where the Grey Wardens protect the world from the Blights, the Chantry protects mankind from itself.'"

Slamming the book closed and looking up at Korrin with a frown, she remarks, "The Chantry consists of people who are inherently flawed, as noted several times throughout this text! They don't transcend mankind, and so they cannot protect mankind from itself! It's as ridiculous a notion as saying you're going to defend against blood magic with blood magic. Perhaps not so drastic, no, but it might as well be! And that's only one of the contradictions I found in this text; how has this sort of thing survived as an actual piece of academic history rather than simply religious allegory for so many years?"

library;

[arcaneadvisor]

Despite joining the Inquisition originally as more of an advisor, Morrigan can't deny that a part of her has missed being back in the field once more even if she truly hadn't intended on so much in so short a time. What she certainly hadn't intended on is just how much has managed to build up in her absence; between Kirkwall and Vimmark, Serault and the Winter Palace, too much of her work has slipped to one side for now, too many of her projects being ignored or left to gather dust.

Not so now, up in the library to read on the Circle teachings of Knight-Enchanters, or rather their history given how much she does know about how they've scavenged from the elves.

She doesn't quite intend to be drawn into any conversation, but her mouth pulls into a smirk, one brow arched. "Is the writer a Chantry scholar, by any chance? They are a particularly tiresome creature, even moreso in the flesh if you can imagine."

[bookish_lioness]

"From the looks of it, most writers are Chantry scholars," Hermione finds herself muttering under her breath as she frowns down at the book in her hands. "Or Chantry toadies, if nothing else."

She really needs to stop reading so many things that spark her ire, but she sort of can't help it. During her first few weeks in Skyhold, she'd taken everything she'd read for face value, since it had been her first go-around with attempting to understand Thedas as a whole. Now, though, she's been re-reading a few texts, and she has enough of a sense of perspective to know to be annoyed and spot the biases for what they are.

Glancing up at Morrigan, Hermione's frown deepens and she asks, "Is this really the prevalent belief system in the world? I suppose I can see some similarities between it and the major religion of my own, and they're both rife with inconsistencies and circular logic, but I fail to see how so many people can read this sort of thing and not question it. Especially when the Chantry isn't exactly shy about how exclusionist it can be."

Training Grounds

[el_tybs]

It was obvious that Hermione had not had a lot of practice with a staff when he offered to spar with her, knowing that it was easier to learn with someone else rather then just hitting a pile of stray over and over. He certainly expected questions, everyone had them when learning, but Hermione had a lot, which often had her second guessing herself it seemed.

"Hermione," he says finally, cutting into her line of questioning. "We're practicing. You're going to get some bruises, but I'm not aiming to hurt you. Until you're ready to have a match I'm not to go full out on you." Even while he says it he's chuckling, leaning against his staff.

[bookish_lioness]

Hermione dutifully stops talking when Sam interrupts her, but that doesn't stop her from worrying at her lower lip when he mentions bruising. She'd really rather not bruise, thank you, even if she knows that's ridiculous. Even someone just practicing a sport is going to get hurt time and time again; the trick is to build up callouses so one doesn't even feel the pain.

She likes to think she's built up enough callouses in her lifetime, though.

"Well... the face is off-limits, then," she brings up, feeling foolish even as she says it. "Not because I'm vain, but because I don't want a misstep to cost me an eye. The same for the chest, since I doubt even the best healers can restart a heart or un-puncture a lung. And I don't think it needs to be mentioned, but I'll avoid your,... you know. Unmentionables. Just have some patience with me."

Training Grounds

[provenforce]

"You're lucky if you don't get hurt, even in training," Rey sighs, before relaxing and moving to kick Hermione's legs lightly with the side of her foot.

"Don't plant your feet like that. Try to stay on your toes. You don't want to be an immovable object, you aren't big enough for that. We'll never be able to overpower someone by strength alone, so we have to use their strength against them by being smart." Rey grew up on a vaguely hostile planet. She wouldn't have survived if she hadn't gotten into all the fights she had, and she's got a reputation on Jakku. Even if she looked like an easy mark, most scavengers knew better than to mess with Rey.

[bookish_lioness]

Hermione staggers just slightly at that light kick to her legs, staring down at Rey's foot with a small frown. She knows she's far too tense and that Rey means well, but it's hard not to get frustrated when she's being lectured on winning a fight by virtue of being smart.

"I know that," she remarks, loosening her stance a little and experimentally bending her knees. "It's just hard to keep in mind when my two main choices for fights have always been either run away or stand my ground. My ground is just... significantly further away from my opponents, usually." Trying not to sound petulant, she takes a breath and tries to force herself to relax a bit more, trusting that Rey isn't going to actually attack her without her being ready. "Is this any better?"

Archery Range (Let me know if you want anything changed.)

[not_the_question]

The last time the Doctor had used a bow and arrow, he had cheated. That isn't to say he couldn't do it, or that he wasn't good at it. Only that he had needed to ensure he won the competition. Given that his sonics weren't working, he had to brush up on his skills properly. That meant learning how this body performed at archery.

So, he was here to practice. Anyone passing by could probably tell he knew how to do archery, but he was somehow a little clumsy at it. (New body; new rules.) Some might pass it off as him just needing more practice. Others might think he's just clumsy in general.

When an arrow flew within a foot of him he startled and looked around to see who it belonged to. It wasn't that hard to pick out the young woman, given how anxious she was. He walked over to the arrow, picked it up and brought it back to her.

"I think you might have lost this."

Everything looks good! So sorry for the wait!

[bookish_lioness]

Hermione flinched as the man approached her, not knowing how he was going to react. She hadn't noticed him before, if only because she'd been so focused on getting the arrow to were it needed to be (and she hadn't even managed that much; brilliant). He didn't have an overly kind sort of face, and so she braced herself for a scathing remark.

When none came, her instinct to rattle off an apology still overwrote everything else, and she hesitantly reached out for the arrow as she told him, "I'm dreadfully sorry! I don't really have much experience with bows, you see, and I'm not usually so clumsy as to just raise a weapon without making sure that everything is in its proper place. I didn't mean to get in the way of your practice, but I'm very glad you hadn't gotten hurt and you didn't have to bring the arrow back to me but I really do appreciate it though I'm sorry for making you go out of your way."

She breathed somewhere during all that, she thinks. Even if it did come out sounding as though it had all been in one breath.