[OPEN] Get out of bed, get a hammer and a nail

[nadasharillen]

WHO: Nari and you!
WHAT: Open for Drakonis
WHEN: Throughout the month
WHERE: Kirkwall
NOTES: Darktown Stuff, general CW for mention of character death and related grief, other CWs posted in their specific threads

Much like the month itself, Nahariel slips between foul and fair as the tight bud of her grief shows the very first small signs of opening. On the good days there are faint smiles, on very good the warm chuckle that so easily issued from her before Sina's death. On the bad days her feet drag to her work, she stares at the plans she'd begun to draft for too long before making new marks. On very bad days her time is spent curled in bed staring dully at the ceiling or down at the Gallows docks no matter the weather, monosyllabic at her most talkative.

Either way, the world turns onward.

[Not necessary, but feel free to specify if you'd like a good day or a garbage day in your header!]

I. Hightown

Being near the blackened ruins of the Chantry Forest is still difficult. Despite that, Nari can regularly be found walking to and from the area. Sometimes it's to harvest what uncharred heartwood can be salvaged from the charcoal spires that once were trees. Most often it's to the still-standing grove where the statue of Andraste reaches out her hand to care for the space; clearing away wilted offerings, spent candles and the spilled wax around them, replacing papers or notes that have been tugged by the wind out from under the rocks that held them. And, when the ground begins to thaw, turning over the soil in preparation for planting the first beds of flowers.

Sometimes she can be heard murmuring as if conversing quietly with someone, although there is no-one there.


II. Darktown

The elf's initial survey of the area, its strengths and weaknesses (mostly the latter), has begun. When she isn't pacing out spaces and taking scrawled but detailed notes with the aid of one or two volunteers (you, perhaps?), she's bent over a table covered in drafting tools and rolls of cheap parchment with a quill or charcoal stick in her hand, the appropriate smudges on her skin, and a look of intense concentration that wrinkles the Crafter God's vallaslin spread across her brow, the humble beginnings of her plans appearing.

Sometimes the wind howls through the space like a wounded beast, grabbing at the edges of her plans, and once in a great while it wins, sending her sprinting and wide-eyed after them, Dalish curses bursting from her like the first blast of water through a broken dam.


III. Wildcard

When she's not doing these things she's sitting around carving in various places; little figures, a complex bracelet, a set of odd and complicated dice, something that looks like it might be a handle, boxes that she sells for a little extra income. Fixing chairs and tables in the Hanged Man (a neverending task), trying to get back into fighting shape in the courtyard, walking everywhere, visiting you, something else entirely!

Comments

SIMON - Tool Time (open to Myr)

[nadasharillen]

Simon Ashlock showing up at their door was always a source of obvious delight to Myr, and it quickly became one for Nahariel as well; first because watching both Templar and mage light up and soften once the outside world had lost its power was absolutely endearing, and then because she found herself genuinely enjoying the human's company.

One afternoon, with Myr caught up longer that usual (excited about something, probably), it's just Nari there to welcome him--although she does so by calling that the door's open, since her hands are buried in some kind of wooden mechanism that she's staring at intently and moving back and forth.

"Afternoon--Myr's not back yet, but you're welcome to wait for him," she says, not looking up.

[paladingus]

Simon's interactions with Nari, though brief, have historically been pleasant. He's thought of her as a bridge-builder, willing to reach out a hand of fellowship across the bounds of religious difference--and with a notable exception or two, he's almost always inclined to trust anyone Myr likes. Fern's endorsement is icing on the cake. She's kind and easy to talk to, and she quickly comes to merit a warm smile whenever he shows up at the door.

Today, though, he's nearly as distracted by the mechanism as Nari is. "That's fine," he says absently, tilting his head to study it as he closes the door behind him and sits down on Myr's bed. "Did you carve that all? Can I see how it fits together?"

[nadasharillen]

The request makes Nari look up from the bits with vague surprise on her face until she remembers the scattered tools that had been part of the cyclonic state of the room Simon and Cade had been sharing during the illness; the surprise relaxes to a grin instead, and she scoots her chair to the side so Simon has room at the desk as well.

"Yes and yes. It's nothing quite yet," she says--the traditional warning of a self-conscious artisan--before handing him the disparate pieces, showing him quickly how they fit into each other before leaning back to let Simon explore it as she'd been doing, "but I'm playing around with different ways to make compartments open besides a simple spring. Something like a lock, but with a key that needs to be known rather than one that could be found."

[paladingus]

He nods along with the explanation, trying to keep his eyes from straying from her face back to the wooden pieces as she talks, though the temptation soon overcomes him and he begins to study them in fascinated earnest.

"Like a passcode," he asks, "except that you'd need to press each bit in sequence? Or something of the sort?"

[nadasharillen]

"Exactly," Nari replies, pleased, "I've not quite figured out where to place it, nor if I want it to be triggered by a single press plate held and released a number of times or several different ones that have an order to them, but that's the center of it. I'd rather it be more elegant than overly complex," she continues, the corner of her mouth twitching into a smile, "even if no-one will ever look at it again, I'll know it's there."

She leans back, watching Simon fiddle with the pieces, "Those were your tools everywhere, then?"

[paladingus]

"That's brilliant," he says, looking back up from the disassembled device with a bright smile. "Different ones with an order would be more secure, harder to guess...I didn't even know you could do that with wooden bits on their own. But if you carve them with detail as small as this, they're as good as metal and they won't rust either. I've never seen wood carved this delicate."

He ought to hand it back, but there's so much to examine. The question, though, turns his smile lopsided and the tiniest bit sheepish. "Aye, they were--and I've tidied them up since, in case you were wondering--but I don't really make things with them, not from scratch like this. I just like to fix things other folks have broken. If I've got more than half the parts of something, I can usually set it back to rights. But it's nothing pretty like what you do."

[nadasharillen]

"I-- thank you," Nari says, Simon's praise eliciting an embarrassed smile. "Different ones with an order it is. And don't sell yourself short. To repair something you've not made you need to learn how it works first, how the original craftsman thought, and then you've got to think about how the rest might've worked with it. It's not easy with all the parts, let alone near half of them missing. I've certainly a hard enough time with it," she says ruefully. Figuring out how new mechanisms worked was well enough, but not with bits out.