[OPEN] and anyway, I told the truth

[mactears]

WHO: Loghain Mac Tir, Alistair Theirin + OPEN
WHAT: Loghain settles into life in Kirkwall.
WHEN: Throughout early September, and right after Loghain and Alistair's sending crystal conversation.
WHERE: The stables; the Gallows library at night, the dining hall.
NOTES: The thread between Loghain and Alistair is open to everyone! Feel free to witness and contribute to what goes down. Aside from the first prompt, you can assume that the others happen on multiple different occasions throughout the month.

I. THE STABLES (ALISTAIR)


He reaches the stables towards the end of the day, with the last of the sun's warmth beginning to wane and some slight cloud cover rolling in from the west. It's cold, but his reception from Alistair is guaranteed to be downright frosty.

Loghain steps into the stables, and checks the impulse to detour past Sooty's stall. Best not to put this off. "Alistair?"



II. THE LIBRARY


Through trial and error, Loghain has determined that the best time to make use of the Inquisitions' research facilities is in the dead of night, for what normal person would choose to sit at a desk and squint at centuries' old books by candlelight? Doing this means it's a bit slower going for him to track down what he needs, but it at least also means that there are no scowling faces nearby to draw his focus away from his work.

There are, regretfully, few resources at his disposal here for research into red lyrium or Corypheus's history, but what few books and papers he has been able to dig up are currently spread out before him on a library table. Rather than sitting at a chair to work, Loghain instead paces slowly behind it, alternating between sipping from a cooling mug of black tea, leaning over to make pencil notations on a map, and flipping through pages of notes, searching for connections.

It's possible he's been at this for a few hours.



III. THE DINING HALL


In general, he prefers to take his meals in private, but suspects that over the long run, this will only make his situation in Kirkwall more difficult, and make the untenable aspects of it persist for even longer. So while he continues his routine of having breakfast alone, he makes it a point to join the rest of the Inquisition's personnel in one of the dining halls each day for both lunch and dinner. So far, most people have left him alone.

He's seated at one of those long tables now, idly stirring a spoon in a bowl of stew until it cools. The other hand holds open the pages of a book, which he reads from in silence.



IV. THE STABLES--ON A DIFFERENT DAY


The stables undoubtedly have grooms and stablehands to see to this sort of work, but Loghain has spent the last several months trekking across Thedas with only his horse for company. It still seems odd to leave her care in the hands of strangers.

Dressed in clothes he doesn't mind getting a bit dirty, he is at work in Sooty's stall brushing her coat down after an invigorating run through the surrounding, stark hills. He talks to her quietly under his breath as he does so, smiling, and feeds her bits of vegetable out of a pouch on his belt every so often.

Comments

[sunshinethroughgrey]

Well, he would be more than welcome to point out that he is a Senior Warden. She ... might take a little bit of vicious glee telling him that she's the Senior Mage Warden in these parts but. They have both decided to be adults.

Which is good, because she can already feel all her muscles locking into place. She shook his hand for a moment, before a flush came to her cheeks.

"I have with you - I mean. I did. I am ... trying to work my way through it. For my friend's sake. For all of our sakes. We ... could truly use a Warden with your sort of military experience, after all."

She took her hand back, so she could fuss with the sack. "So, as a welcome that I have done for all the Wardens, I've knitted some things for you. Weather gets cold in Kirkwall, so you'll probably need them."

[mactears]

He'd been expecting an argument or a lecture--not a gift. Loghain looks momentarily uncomfortable, looking aside from Bethany and the sack full of knitted things that she's rummaging through.

"There's no need for such a demonstration," he says quietly, though he realizes it's too late for that now. The girl can't very well un-knit her work. "But thank you, regardless."

[sunshinethroughgrey]

Bethany looked up at him, brown eyes conflicted once more, before he breathed out slowly. "There is. I've said some ... rather unkind things about your character and I realize that is me boiling down very complicated issues out of fear."

So she took out the scarf, the hat, and the mittens. "We keep things simple, with us Wardens here. We stick together, after everything else. We need to. We're the only ones left who are near sane and know what is really at stake. We can't be at each other's throats."

[mactears]

He doesn't quite smile, but his lips do twist wryly. "You would not be the first to make such comments about my character," he tells her, not unkindly, and seems willing to put that behind them if she is.

He looks to the knitted things she removes from the sack, already feeling a moment of chagrin; he's not likely to make use of these offerings, though he appreciates the spirit they're offered in. "We keep things simple, with us Wardens here," she says. "We stick together, after everything else. We need to. We're the only ones left who are near sane and know what is really at stake. We can't be at each other's throats."

That is when Loghain chuckles some. "Oh I think we can," he replies, and reaches out to pick up the scarf, regarding it; it looks quite warm. "We shouldn't, but we're human. Carrying a grudge is natural."

[sunshinethroughgrey]

I will not be the last. is in her mind, but goes nowhere near her lips. Perhaps it is the vulnerable lip twist of a man who knows what horrible things he has done, and has had room to regret them. The lip quirk he gets in turn is quiet, but honest.

And that comment? About how carrying a grudge is natural -- well she sort of got the feeling he was well used to having an entire nation more or less hold one. "Perhaps -- but Andraste does ask us to look beyond that. We can all change, for the better. I've always believed that." She always would.

"Beyond that ... we can hold grudges but we're Still Wardens." She looks up at him, her brown eyes determined. "I may not think much of the Warden organization right now, and I may want this cursed blood out of my veins enough to pull my own hair out ... but Corypheus is only one step away from an Archdemon, so it is our duty to slay him."

That was when she pulled some of her own books over, "I saw what you were reading before. These are much more helpful, even if they are vague."

[mactears]

The books she sets in front of him look to be promising, and he reaches out to open one, thumbing through the contents. Useful resources if, as she said, vague on the details that he requires. He won't turn them away.

"You have my thanks, for this," he tells her, looking up to her again. One gets the impression that he is grateful for a measure of good will between them, too.

[sunshinethroughgrey]

"You are most welcome." And that, Loghain, gets you the Bethany Hawke dimples. Bright as her nickname, before she goes to take the chair opposite him.

"This is my particular area of study, in fact." She states simply, as she pulls out her quill and parchment paper. "So if you are going to study it, we might as well study together. Would you like your tea warmed?"