Let's get down to business to defeat the Hu... uh, demons.

[issala]

WHO: Kas & OPEN
WHAT: Kas returns to Skyhold with a scout team.
WHEN: Today
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: Proud teen cockiness all over the place.

1.

He may have mud in places he didn't even know he had, but the qunari teen holds his head high when he passes the massive gates to Skyhold with the rest of his team, easily picked out by the bumps in his hood where his horns were. New, still shiny knives on his back and a well-cared bow and quiver joining them as well made him look even more official. (He might be muddy, but those weapons were flawless.)

He had made it; he had survived, and he had carried out his mission... and he was so utterly proud of it. Kas felt like he had made a difference, no matter how small, and it gave him more determination to continue. He was worth something. He wasn't just a pickpocket and rogue on the streets, desperate to live.

It wasn't a surprise, then, how the boy walked cockily off to the barracks like he was king of the castle. Never mind that he slipped in the stairs. Nobody saw that, right?

"Mud fucking sucks," he mutters, brushing off the leathers with a sigh.

Qunari

One of the first things he had to do when he returned was to check on the other qunari and make sure they were all alive and not murdered by Ben-Hassrath or fallen out in that swamp... mire... thing.

"Gorse...? Korrin?"

2.

Later that day, the teen is out of his scout uniform and back in the somewhat over-sized clothing, carefully mended and cleaned. Hanging out by the stables, he was drinking hot tea and just enjoying life without shame and guilt - maybe for the first time in his life since he left the kith.

It hadn't been easy, but he had already seen a lot of bad things in his life. This was not so different.

One of the horses in the stables snorted near one of his pointed ears, and Kas reaches up to pet the soft muzzle. "I made it," he confesses softly to the animal with an unguarded smile on his face. "They won't kick me out now, right?"

Comments

[gatheringstorm]

"There's Jamie McCrimmon, sounds like he's from Starkhaven but isn't. We paired up a lot in the mire, lighting beacons and fighting undead together. He knows his way around the battlefield, I'll give him that. And he handled maraas-lok better than most humans I've seen." High endorsement, honest. Almost everyone else has had an immediate, amusing reaction but his was relatively mild.

"And Galadriel...I haven't talked to her that much, honestly, but she seems calm and wise, both traits that are hard to find here and now. She's also the tallest elf I ever saw, only a few inches shorter than me."

[issala]

That's high endorsement indeed, and the boy actually looks a bit impressed. Starkhaven-sounding man that wasn't Starkhaven-ish. Okay. He could probably pick that one apart from the rest of the people around.

...a really tall elf sounded kind of easy to spot too, to be honest. "She's really that tall? I haven't seen many elves that are taller than me!"

[gatheringstorm]

"Neither have I! This is definitely a first. It's a nice break from having to stare downwards all the time, for me." Korrin loves all her tiny friends, but they do make her neck ache sometimes. "No idea on her suitability with maraas-lok, but despite that wise aura and all, she wasn't too good for us after the mage meeting and joined on in with the drinks."

[issala]

He know the neck ache feel, only in the other direction from back in the kith. Damn tall qunari... now elves were getting taller than him, too? So not fair.

"Well, she sounds good if she has drinks with you guys. Not like some weird noble lady elf." Which seemed like an oxymoron, to be honest. He liked elves, because they were just as pissed at the upper class like he was.

Picking the last crumbs off his shirt, Kas licks them from his fingers with a slight smile. "Guess I'm gonna try to be a little nicer? Maybe."

[gatheringstorm]

Don't worry, Kas, you'll get up there one day! Korrin doesn't doubt she'll be looking up to him at some point, or at least meeting at eye-level. Such things will even out, in time.

"It can't hurt. I'm not saying take any crap that's sent your way, though. Just dish it out when it's deserved." And as much as she doesn't want to think about a particular subject on her mind, it only seems prudent to mention it before departing. "Skyhold might attract more of our kind while I'm away. If that happens, do them a favor and pass on what the rest of us already know, alright? It wouldn't be fair to keep them in the dark."

[issala]

He sure hopes so, and that he didn't get stunted from years of malnutrition. Most boys his age were taller, after all. With bigger horns, too!

Totally jelly.

He huffs at her words, glaring. "I'm not gonna take any shit. I never do. Just gonna... not give shit before they earn it. Like you said." The teen crosses his arms a bit, looking at Korrin. He's not totally okay with the fact that she's leaving again, but that was the way of things.

Not that he would miss her or anything!

"Yeah, I'll tell anyone I see. We're not exactly common, but they all deserve t'know we have a fucking Ben-Hassrath here." It still wigs him out so much, even if the man was away on some mission. "Just come back, okay?"

[gatheringstorm]

Well, Korrin will miss him. She nods in approval to all that's said, a small smile of pride forming. He'll know what to do, and he'll have help in the form of Gorse and the others. Hopefully those weeks away won't seem as long as they do now, with them all ahead of her.

"Hey, I always do. Sneaking around may be different from what I'm used to, but I'd be a terrible mercenary if I couldn't adapt. It needs to get done, so I'll do it and come back. If it gets too boring over here, you can always pester me over the sending crystal. I'll get back to you when I can." It may not be immediate, but still. Korrin will make the effort to get back in touch, never doubt it.

[issala]

"I don't doubt it," the boy says with more determination in his voice. Then he punches her shoulder none-to-gently in a strangely affectionate way. Korrin was becoming family, no matter how he tried to not get attached, and, well... it was not a hug, but still a step in the right direction.

"I'll bother you on the crystal-things with all the maraas-lok I drink."