( OPEN ) it's empty in the valley of your heart

[eruit]

WHO: Hanzo Shimada & open
WHAT: Catch-all for Hanzo related things
WHEN: Throughout the month
WHERE: Kirkwall, various places listed inside
NOTES: N/A other than shirtless Tevene

I. GALLOWS TRAINING

After a disappointing result in the Tourney, Hanzo has decided to dedicate himself to his training in a way he has neglected since he had left Tevinter. It might not be magically focussed anymore - those days are long behind him, even if he can still feel the burn of his power under his skin - but his dedication is much the same, to the point of it being almost ridiculous. He wakes up, he meditates, calms himself, strides out of the Gallows and makes his way to the archery targets, where he spends hours doing what he can to perfect his aim.

Day in, day out, Hanzo spends between three to five hours working on his archery. Most of the time he hits his targets on the mark, the arrow hitting the bullseye and sinking through into arrows that had been there previously, cutting through it.

When the days get warmer, Hanzo shrugs off what remains of his shirt, everything that isn't the left hand side of his body, and lets it hang around his hips. Shirtless, he continues to practice, drawing his arm back and shooting the targets, time and time and time again, before he goes and collects his arrows and repeats the process. It's almost disturbingly mechanical, practiced movements that are akin to routine more than anything else. The few arrows that Hanzo misses - because he hears something, because he's distracted, because something draws his attention - makes him curse quietly in Tevine, his teeth gritting tight.

II. GARDENS

When he's not training, Hanzo spends a great deal of his time sitting in the gardens in the Gallows, legs tucked under him in something that seems like it must be uncomfortable for extended periods of times. He doesn't look particularly put out by it, however, more comfortable like this - with something familiar, something almost like 'home' - than he is in any other way. He sits that way for long hours of the day, basking in the warmth of the sunlight, letting himself enjoy the peace and quiet and the solitude more than anything else, his head tilting this way and that to enjoy the sun.

It is rare that Hanzo Shimada allows himself this kind of peace or comfort, not with the things that he must atone for.

Other hours of the day are spent with him sitting with bits of paper and ink at his side, writing letters that will never be sent. They are all titled with a name, the curl of his lettering formal and practiced, clearly well taught and well educated. He writes and he writes, almost as if he is dictating his life in a diary entry, pieces of parchment building a pile at his side. When he's done, or it seems as though he's done, he puts the paper to one side and bows his head, overcome by something, his hands shaking a little before he begins to fold them all, meticulous and careful. When he is done folding them he turns, creating a small circle of rocks before he starts a small fire.

Then, one by one, he burns all the parchments until nothing remains.

The fire burns out as Hanzo sits, watching it.

III. GALLOWS ROOM

When he's not out training or in the gardens, Hanzo spends a great deal of time in his room reading any scouting reports he can get his hands on and doing his own studies and investigations. He's still investigating his own things, thanks to the confusing mess that Benedict had him dragged into, but he does what he can to keep himself quietly involved in whatever he can stick his nose in. It means that he's often surrounded by papers, making notes and adding to his own maps of Kirkwall and the areas beyond the city, as much as he can.

His door is open, if only because it's so warm, and when he settles in his chair there is a bottle of something that smells very, very alcoholic set at his desk as he works.

It takes him a little while to lift his head and respond to anyone calling for him, but he always does, in the end.

IV. OPEN / WILDCARD

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