In the turning of the seasons, in life and death

[motherfucking_ghost]

WHO: Church, Malcolm, Rachette, YOU
WHAT: Present timeline catch-all
WHEN: Guardian /wiggly hand
WHERE: Up down all around Skyhold
NOTES: Nab me on plurk if you want a specific starter

Church is starting to spend a lot more time in the tavern than he ever did before. Sometimes he's just hanging around, taking some notes. Sometimes he's cleaning up tables with a rag. Sometimes you can actually see him in the back doing what may or may not be actual work. Crazy! He's also spending quite a bit of time around the stables, trying really hard not to look intimidated by the steeds, learning to put on saddles, and you may even see him up on one. This is madness. This is Skyhold.

Rachette does a lot of training, whether it's with her blades, doing her best to cut up a dummy, or doing sick backflips off walls or generally trying to get her parkour on, or at a table with a bunch of scrap fiddling with traps. She's also fond of going out hunting. You can perhaps find her debating with a merchant about the price of turning a rabbit pelt into a pair of gloves or a nice hat. She sometimes hangs nearby classes without trying to look like she's actually sitting in. Learning but not like...being a nerd okay shut up who likes learning not her.

Malcolm hovers around the healer tents more than he ever usually does, either visiting those injured or getting injuries checked up on. He also seems to be making a point of starting to see if there's anything he can do to help despite not being a healer. His training has more to do with keeping the skills he does have sharp, whether through archery (where he has an interesting new bow that hasn't made an appearance yet), or working out, or sparring. He's willing to give advice to people that seek it. And as ever, there's always some point where he can be seen around the kennels or otherwise being with is poodle companion Milady, playing, training, being at least mildly adorable.

Comments

Classes

[gatheringstorm]

"...and that's why if you add dawn lotus and dragonthorn to the blood lotus, you'll do a lot more damage with an Antivan Fire grenade than you would otherwise. Just make sure you have the right amounts, or -best case scenario- it won't work. Worst, we might have to send you home in a small box. Now, let's meet outside to see this in action."

The Undercroft is all well and good for crafting, but Korrin knows better than to teach to use grenades in a limited space that others need. It still has to be done, though; the academic portion is important, but so is putting all this into practice. The last thing she wants is accidents happening on the battlefield because people don't know what the fuck they're doing.

So, with that in mind, Korrin ushers the small group outside, just past Skyhold's main bridge to where she's stolen borrowed some training dummies for practice. That they're placed in the snow is perhaps a useful precaution when dealing with fire and Maker knows what else.

"Alright, now who wants to give this upgraded version a shot? Remember, just because I have healing potions on hand doesn't mean you want to be in range in the first place, so you have to be very careful with your aim."

[sistertohermen]

She drops in on classes from time to time, when she stumbles on them, because sometimes it's better than anything else she could be doing. She's picking up odds and ends. Korrin's talking about grenades, which is something she's honestly only heard whispers and rumors about before, not seen or used. Supposedly her Carta buddies had looted a whole crate of them at one point, but, well, she hadn't seen it for herself. The coin from it was pretty good, though.

So when the class collectively moves, she goes with them, curious. So it's her curiosity that gets the better of her when she raises her hand and jumps a little, eager to try out something that should pack a lot of oomph to it. "So how very careful is very careful? Is this, you should be an archer careful, or just don't be an awful throw careful? Just need to get it to the dummy, right?"

[gatheringstorm]

"Well, look at the set-up. The dummies are spaced just far enough apart that if you aim it right, you won't singe any others. That's why they're staggered, too. We need you to incinerate your enemies, not your team. Some upgrades can expand the range, too, but we'll get to that later. Go ahead, let's see what you can do with it."

Korrin nods encouragingly, as the precautions given are enough where there aren't too many other volunteers. They're waiting for someone else to take the first shot; better that than being foolhardy, but she'd much rather have active volunteers than volunteer someone.

Kennels

[circleprodigy]

Milady draws the attention of a blur of an adult mabari, drenched and half-scrubbed down from the looks of it. Garahel barks cheerfully as he heads over, thrilled to elude his mistress and avoid more boring bath-time. Can't they just play, instead? He wags his tail at Malcolm hopefully. Please don't tell on him, he's a good dog. Just not when being cleaned.

[tactical_alert]

Milady's been around the kennels long enough to not be intimidated by the likes of a mabari anymore, no matter how big. Jayne was a good dog-buddy, after all. She runs in a little circle, whole body wiggling.

Malcolm, on the other hand, raises a dubious eyebrow once the damp blur clearly becomes Garahel. "You know dripping like that you're going to get mud everywhere. And then she'll have to wash you up even more."

[circleprodigy]

Garahel watches Milady and, if she stays still long enough, happily nuzzles her. She might get some of the suds, but oh well. He looks up and whines at Malcolm, though, clearly not thrilled at that prospect.

Neither does Inessa, whose pace has quickened trying to catch up. "Garahel! What are you--no, don't get her wet, too! Ugh, stay still for once and this will go much faster!" She levels a stern look at Garahel, who whines again and looks down, before glancing over to Malcolm. "Sorry about that. One of the pups escaped and he took the opportunity to do the same."

{ church | stables }

[aceso]

Christine started out much like Church -- staring dubiously at the horses and wondering which would be least likely to throw her from the saddle. But she is nothing if not determined, and after many months of lessons, she finds herself at ease around horses. Yes, they can spook easily, or have willful personalities, but she's found several that she enjoys riding and it's made the experience a pleasant one.

Coming into the stables, she's pleased to see Church already there. In fact, whenever she sees him now, there's a quickening to the beat of her heart, and a fluttering in her stomach. She's tried dismissing it as girlish nonsense, but the feeling always returns. It doesn't help when he always smiles at her in that way of his. Part of her wonders if this means that they might be... well, a couple. It's not something she planned, and certainly something she didn't want in the middle of a war, but it seems being a practical person doesn't always lead to practical thoughts. Perhaps this is something the two of them should discuss.

"Church," she greets, wearing her blue cloak with the gray fur lining again. It's her standard outdoors dress for winter, but she does like showing off how she favors blue. Blue team rules, right? "You are going for a ride? Could we go together?"

[motherfucking_ghost]

Sorry, did she mention the smile at her? Yeah. This smile? Is it this smile she's thinking about, the one he's giving her right now on her approach? Probably that's the smile.

He's patting the neck of a horse that he's been working with a couple weeks-ish, in that getting-to-know-you phase of not being skittish around a mount that will hopefully not throw his ass. And smiles at her. "I was gonna take Hay Fever here out for a trot if he'll let me." The horse snort-sneezes. "He does that." Sneeze. "A lot. I mean his name's actually Hayden, but I think my name's more fitting. Um...did you wanna ride, like, together, or on...two different horses?"

There's together and there's together okay.

[aceso]

That would be the smile. How dare he! And right on cue her stomach gets that fluttering feeling again. It's tempting to just grab his hand and drag him to her bed immediately, but she'll show some restraint for now.

"Poor thing," she says, slowly raising her hand to see if the horse will accept a petting. When he doesn't seem fazed, she strokes fingers over his mane. "We could do either. Do you feel confident on a horse yet? I feel I have come along rather well, so I do not mind taking the reins if you wish to ride behind me." She gives the row of horses a quick look. "But if you feel able to ride alone, we could each take out a horse."

CHETTE - HUNTING

[alankazam]

She's on the way out of Skyhold when he falls abruptly into line beside her.

"Hunting?" Alan asks without preamble. There really aren't too many reasons to wander out with a bunch of traps. "Mind if I come along?"

At least he's asking. That's a step up.

[sistertohermen]

She gives him a side glance look up. "Are you a hunter?" she asks dubiously. He doesn't look like much, but she knows better than to judge by looks alone.

[alankazam]

"I like to know where the traps are," Practicality — if not quite an answer. Such things aren’t always so easily seen, through another pair of eyes. "Saves my toes."

Or paws, as it were. What he's going to hunt totally unarmed, well:

"There should still be some nests worth climbing for." No eggs this time of year, unless you’re going after owls and eagles — never a smart play — but squirrels aplenty. "I’ll trade you some bait for it."

The knowledge, that is.

aaaaand church, tavern

[alankazam]

"You're out of the broken ones,"

Alan leans over the little cabinet of drinkware. Skyhold's collection is mismatched, to say the least; if enough around these parts carry their own tankards, there are as many like to forget them later. The Inquisition can't afford to quibble over a noblemen's donated gift of actual-glass-glasses, or the sturdier mugs that make for more standard fare.

He points to the back of it.

"Only one shard left."

It's something of a joke, though said plainly enough that it's likely hard to tell. He's been hanging around most of the afternoon, not drinking, not precisely getting in the way. The kind of not-getting-in-the-way that ends up feeling more like it for anticipation.

[motherfucking_ghost]

"Weird guy thinks he's a funnyman," Church drawls with a little roll of his eyes but a smirk tugging on his lips. "Maybe you should introduce stand-up comedy to the tavern. Might be better than the bard who likes singing the same songs again and again."

Which, honestly, just gets tuned out after a while, or at least until the guy takes a break or gets shooed out for a time. Alan's been hanging about. And. Not doing a whole lot. And it's kind of weird. "I could even supply the audience with some tomatoes from the kitchen, y'know, for throwing." Like...like a jester, they have jesters here, right, or...he doesn't actually know??

[alankazam]

"Be careful. They may mix us up."

Because... jokes. There's no way in the Void they'll otherwise ever be confused.

"Is it important that you stand for it?" He shuts the drawer, moves on to inspecting a stack of plates, turning them over in his hands like a mirror. "The comedy."

church, tavern;

[foxsays]

Nine times out of ten, Araceli comes in from upstairs then makes her way down because she's been coming from the battlements or the library so it's faster (or that's the answer she'll ever give if anyone ever bothers to ask her.) This is one of those times since she isn't with someone else coming in, weaving her way past everyone else to make way to the bar before it's time to settle at the table for cards and--

"Church!" Delighted because you know it's never a bad day when you get to see Church after all but she does take a moment, perhaps having a little bit of a flashback to another time, her and another rifter with the bar between them. She shakes it off. "Are you becoming an honest man?"

Why yes she will say that in the scandalised whisper it deserves, leaning across so that the person next to her doesn't need to her and can only try to guess what's going on from the face she's pulling.

[motherfucking_ghost]

He can be an annoying shit, but he hasn't gotten thrown out of the tavern yet, so he must be doing something right. But two can play at the 'what are they talking about is it juicy gossip' game while he's here.

He puts a hand over his heart with a mildly scandalized face before returning the lean in. "When have you ever known me to not be honest?" Maybe don't answer that question, actually. "I know, I know, look at me starting to settle down with an actual job for a while. I might even go native at this rate."

[foxsays]

The tavern needs people behind the bar with personality and spark. Cabot, for all that someone, somewhere, must've seen something worth hiring in him has not and has never provided anything for Araceli beyond drinks.

"Three separate occasions come to mind in the last week alone, of course with witnesses of good standing." Witnesses she can fabricate from thin air, she's a bard after all she can always do with some on the spot practice if he's up for it. "And what's prompted all this? Am I to expect an announcement? A girl needs time to speak with her tailor if that's the case."

rachette, hunting;

[arcaneadvisor]

The woods around Skyhold might hold the odd sign here and there of someone having camped out at one point or another if someone were to go looking for signs. Morrigan's seen a few hunters that have recognised her or haven't seen her at all; a few have given chase until she had disappeared but isn't it odd, that no tale of men and women chasing the arcane advisor make it back.

(She was not herself, clearly, for any of those moments.)

Moving quietly through the trees, she spots a dwarf as she stops for a moment's rest, calling out. "How goes it?"

[sistertohermen]

She's not looking for those kind of signs, and even if she were--people camping outside of Skyhold isn't really strange. They just tend to camp a lot closer to the safe haven than out in the middle of the woods. The signs she's looking for are of creatures she can easily trap, or lure into a trap.

Startled, Rachette reaches for her dagger, holding it at the ready. But...ah, it's just someone asking after her hunt. The weapon gets lowered, though she's still tense from the surprise. "I don't think the snow hares had a good year. Or someone else got to them before me." Either's likely. "I'm not going back without a second one. I saw a fox earlier, but I think it also saw me, so I don't know I'll get that. Couple squirrels, though." Thanks, Alan.

[arcaneadvisor]

"Not I." She has no need or want of a hare today but had she been a wolf loping along? A hare might have been snapped up because a wolf does less damage than a spell since she needs the pelts too. "My quarry cannot run from me though it does try to hide with the snows that linger."

Opening her small bag a little wider reveals a bounty of various winter mushrooms she's been gathering today. Or 'bounty' since it's still winter, she's having to use magic every so often to make sure she can still feel her fingers, and it's generally a very slow process. There are a few other odds and ends tossed in there too since you never know when you might need those berries or that root. The wild's witch life.

"Do you require assistance? I know these paths well, and though I am no hunter, I know a thing or two of where a hare might go to ground or where the fox might tuck his nose beneath his tail when he thinks he has missed the hunter. Neither have passed me yet if that helps to narrow your search."

Malcolm: Healer Tents

[watchesandlistens]

Corvo is well aware that he got out of the Winter Palace with a lack of injuries that is, quite frankly, uncanny. Particularly when taking the state of the two people who'd been fighting with him into account. Back home, someone might mumble about him being blessed by the Outsider. Here, they don't, and he's grateful for it.

But he still feels obligated to check up on the people who were injured, particularly the aforementioned fighting companions. So when he's walking by and notices Malcolm heading into the tents, he decides to trail after. But. Like. In a way that isn't totally creepy? He can follow people like a normal person, okay.

"Are you doing well?" He can even talk to people before sneaking up on them! Look at him go. "You were badly injured. Before."

[tactical_alert]

Becoming a decent person right before his eyes, we're all proud of you. Malcolm is actually surprised to see Corvo--perhaps he shouldn't be, but after the Palace fight, he didn't expect to see the magically-inclined fighter again, much less have him check up on him.

"Not badly," he says with a mild flex of his arm. "Cade had it much worse. And I assure you, I've also had worse." Yeah, but 'getting stabbed with a bunch of arrows and also stabbed in the ribs and fuck knows what else' is still pretty bad to a lot of people.

"But yes, I seem to be making a fair recovery." A smirk tugs his face. "I seem to have something of luck for that. I get ill at the drop of a hat, but injuries?" He waves a dismissive hand.

stables

[universal_charm]

A face Kirk had never seen around the tables before? Church's. That could of course just be happenstance, never being together in the same place at the same time. An entirely possible occurance, and yet he doubted that. Which had always led him to the belief that Church simple wasn't interested in horses. All well and good. Kirk only was because walking everywhere had not appealed, nor had riding pillion.

"You know they're pretty much the one animal in Thedas that doesn't bite, right?" Kirk asked him, making for his personal steed, Atlas, across the way from the beast Church was currently trying to look tough against.

[motherfucking_ghost]

"Uh, demonstrably not true. They can totally bite. It's just that their teeth aren't gonna rip you to shreds. Also? They kick like a motherfucker. So it's not like they're not dangerous in their own right."

That's not really why he's making a show of himself, though. Horses aren't, generally, at all scary. Just...he feels kind of stupid because of course riding horses wouldn't be a quick thing to learn, but this still feels like a long time to figure it out. Ugh. Dumb!

"This guy just likes chewing on my hair, though, so that's okay. I think maybe he knows me from when I used to sleep in the stables... On accident. Not. Y'know. Not because I didn't have anywhere."