[Open] Drinks with a King

[conqueredhearts]

WHO: Iskandar and whoever joins him
WHAT: Iskandar has been matching Thedas months to Earth months and is guessing this is around a certain time of year. So he's hear to hold a memorial of sorts.
WHEN: Beginning of Justinian
WHERE: The docks
NOTES: Talk of death and dying. Note this is not a suicide content warning.

This wasn't the Okeanos of his dreams but he felt it would satisfy the time. That was to say he'd been figuring out how the months of this world might line up with those of his own world and had come up with the fact that his might be around Earth's June. The very same month historians had figured out he'd died at the age of thirty-two. Much had happened since that time but he felt that this was a day to honor something. Not him, of course, he had plenty of that already. No today was for those who had died living under his rule.

So he sat at the edge of the docks with a number of wine bottles around him. A couple were empty already to mark how much time had passed since he'd come out here. Around his neck was a small cat who had decided this was his favorite location to sleep even when Iskandar wasn't wearing his cloak. It was just nice to have a solid place to snooze apparently. Also there was a mabari pup next to him, sitting there as if trying to mimic the man in being calm. Not well though considering he kept wiggling about.

Iskandar chuckled and looked over his shoulder, having become aware that he wasn't alone. "Hello there. Would you care to join me? I am honoring the dead with a little memorial of sorts. You are welcome to think of your own lost ones if you like."

Comments

[gatheringstorm]

Then of course the mabari gets all the belly rubs he wants! Korrin won't think to deny him. "What a good boy...."

She nods raises her bottle, then takes a swig. "There's Asher, too. Big, obonxious Avvar warrior. One of the best people you could hope to have at your back, but he didn't die on his feet like he should have; stupid infection. He's why I have this. "She points to the honey badger tattoo on her forearm.

"So, tell me about your followers. I won't hog this."

[conqueredhearts]

"Hephaestion didn't die on his feet either. It was never clear if he was poisoned or otherwise but he slowly declined. He was a great warrior who wasn't allowed to die in battle."

He looked down at the water below, a small smile on his face. One could just see the love he had for this man even without him being there with him.

"He was my oldest friend. There with me since childhood. He died not long before I did."

Looking up again, he laughed a bit.

"Ah but my people were amazing. The largest family the world has ever beheld."

[gatheringstorm]

Nodding solemnly, Korrin raises her wine bottle to the absent Hephaeston before taking another swig. Poor guy, she can't envy such a fate for a warrior...or one who was forced to see said decline and couldn't do anything about it. The mabari-belly-rubbing is interrupted for a moment so she can rest it on Iskandar's shoulder, giving it a squeeze.

"You two were lucky to have each other as long as you did. Whatever else happened, at least you can look back on that.

Tell me more about them. How'd you accumulate so many people?"

[conqueredhearts]

"How? Mm. I suppose the same way I do here. I am myself. Friendly. Open. I listened to their needs and I responded. It is true I was their King but I made myself approachable and therefore someone they could strive to be. They wanted to be with me for that reason."

He smiled more then, closing his eyes as he remembered their faces. Even now he could still see each and every one of them. Remember their names. Where they came from. They'd not just been subjects or soldiers or servants or whatever. They'd been friends and family and his greatest treasure.

"In my world I have a power that allows me to recreate a battlefield and summon thousands of my soldiers who fought at my side. For even in death they still wish to follow me. My greatest and most glorious treasure."

[gatheringstorm]

"Thousands...damn. Imagine if we could have that kind of help now. The vints would piss themselves." Korrin snickers, but her expression softens as she thinks it over.

"It must be hard to be separated from that, even when it's not about battle. I wish we knew why some rift magic works here and some doesn't; it's all so fucking convoluted. Though personal army or not, I'm still glad to have you here. You're a good guy, Iskandar." She leans in a little and bumps him, certain that he's one of the few people she doesn't need to be careful around.

[conqueredhearts]

He laughed at the bump he was given and even gave one back to her. He rather liked the tone of their friendship. It was a welcome change of pace compared to some of his other friendships.

"And you are good as well. It is always a pleasure to spend time with you, my friend." He had another drink from his bottle then let out a sigh. "It is difficult to be parted from them but I will see them again one day. And we will celebrate our many victories together in the afterlife."

[gatheringstorm]

As Iskandar takes another drink, Korrin uses the opportunity to do the same. That doesn't ease the ache in her heart, but...it helps. That and the excellent company she's now in, king as well as his animal companions.

"That's a good way of seeing things, savoring the past and looking forward to the future without letting it consume you. There are some people around here who could benefit from that kind of common sense. Maybe you should run a class."

[conqueredhearts]

"Mm. I could run a class but it seems like the best way to teach someone is in moments like this. When you can intimately get to know someone and spend time with them. It isn't something you can so easily do with a class."

Iskandar believed in the power of teaching but there were some things best not placed in a classroom. This was one of them. Friendship taught one so very much in the end as he'd learned through his life.

[gatheringstorm]

"You could probably find a way, knowing you, but maybe you're right." Korrin sighs contentedly, the company and wine helping more than she'd realized.

"I know it sounds strange given what you came here for, but...thanks. I've been so wound up lately." For good reason, though she can't bring herself to voice it aloud. "Anytime you want to relive the past a little, I'm willing to listen. You have some kickass stories, after all."

[conqueredhearts]

He let his head fall back for a laugh. "That does not sound strange at all, my friend. Sometimes what you need is to take a small walk along the roads of the past to help make it easier to walk the ones of the present. If doing so with me has aided you then I am happy."

He clapped a hand to her shoulder and gave her the warmest of grins. "Would you like to hear more stories? I have many. Perhaps I could share some of my youth this time."

[gatheringstorm]

"You know, it's difficult to imagine you as a kid. I try, and I keep falling back to this...wall of muscles." Korrin smirks as she gestures to him, then lifts the bottle for another swig.

[conqueredhearts]

"I was actually very small as a child. I believe when I was twelve I was about..." He thought about it then held up his hand to show a height about two feet shorter than he was now.

"When manhood came I grew quickly!" He stroked his beard a moment. "You know, it was actually a little painful how quickly I grew but I would say I turned out very nicely."

[gatheringstorm]

"That you did! Almost qunari-like." She chuckles, more at ease than she's been in a while. It won't last, but...it's nice to have the burden lifted temporarily. "I had early growth spurts. It lead to people thinking I was older than I was, which was fun, except that merc groups tried to recruit me and my parents turned them down. I was so pissed. I was so ready to get in on the action, why did I have to wait?"

[conqueredhearts]

"Mm. I understand. But at least you can fight now! It lets you make up for lost times." That had to count for something in his mind. Then again he was so easy going that this made perfect sense to him. "You know, I should find a way to meet more Qunari. I get compared to them quite often with my size."

[gatheringstorm]

"You know Taas, right? He counts. As for others, there aren't a lot of qunari in the Inquisition, especially stationed here, but you'll find some Tal-Vashoth in the city. Mostly they stick to Lowtown or the docks. Nobles will bitch up a storm if they go past the Hightown markets, nothing new there." Korrin shrugs her shoulders, rolling her eyes a little as she reaches for the wine again.

[conqueredhearts]

"The nobles could use a shake up honestly. Much could be accomplished if they looked beyond their noses towards problems that are current rather than past. Then again, I could say that about much that I see." He shook his head slowly then sighed. "But I am not King nor do I have plans of conquering this place now."

With that he smiled. "But I can do my best to get them to change their minds by befriending them!"

[gatheringstorm]

"I'm being completely serious when I say this; if anyone could make that happen, it'd be you." Or Josephine, but it'd be even better if it were Iskandar himself. They could see for their own eyes that rifters aren't demons to be feared.

[conqueredhearts]

"Well I shall know that if there is a call for another vote of some kind I may have one in your favor." He gave her a wink then enjoyed a long drink from his bottle. When he set it down, he was sighing. "For now my focus is to just enjoy this world. To know it. To learn from it. To help it. In any way I can."