Take my love, Take my land

[aintwejust]

WHO: Malcolm Reynolds, Jayne the Mabari and You!
WHAT: Malcolm rides in with a Mabari and Mail for the Inquisition
WHEN: 20th of Haring
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: Anyone that wants a letter or a package that can be carried in a pair of saddlebags is welcome to claim some good or trinket or something from Malcolm, he's been wandering this way for awhile. Brackets or Prose are good.

So here's how it is.

A man, a horse, a bag of mail and a grumpy Mabari wandering right up the road to Skyhold. The dog's a dark brown, the horse is a warm brown, and the man's a muddied brown on account of all the foutu mud he's been riding through all the live long day on the way up to this mighty fine hold. Fort. Ruin.

Honestly it's more the last than either of the other two, the battlements a little worn and ragged and the gate itself kinda questionable. Were it not for the many wonderful things said about this establishment and it's Inquisition Mal'd be entertaining second thoughts. Arlight if he's honest he's already entertaining second, third, and fifth thoughts but he's got a powerful need to be here and here's where he's gotten paid to drop off a lotta letters and packages of various value and weight. He's not about to back out of a decent, legitimate job when he's been paid.

Well-

He sighs and urges the horse onward through the gates, clicking his tongue to bring the Mabari to heel. Or. Trying to. The dog's got a mind of it's own and trots about,sniffling and snuffling at anyone in the immediate area that may or may not have food. If they've got food? He starts pawing. Or gnawing. Much to the exasperation of the muddied man on the bay. "For the last time you gourmand petit sac de merde, leave 'em alone."

If snapping at the dog doesn't work he leans out with his heel and nudges the Mabari with his boot- or he hefts the butt of his spear and knocks him upside the head. It works well enough.

If spared the hound and horse he's found wandering around the courtyard, handing out letters while still trying to mind said horse and hound- horse following at his heel better than the hound tends to.

Comments

[serannas]

Ellana's used to the sight of someone handing out mail, though today's deliverer is a new face to her. The fact that a horse and dog are following him makes for a rather funny image. He must just be an animal person? She's spent a little time around the stables herself, but she prefers the harts and halla to horses or anything else. The halla especially. They're so serene and gentle, but she knows they can be roused to action if there's need. After all, isn't it said that the ancient elves rode halla into battle?

Since she really only gets mail from two people in the clan, she doesn't expect letters all the time, but she wanders over anyway, just to see. Perhaps today will be her lucky day.

"Hello," she greets gently, always wary of first impressions with humans. "Would you happen to have a letter for Ellana Ashara?"

[aintwejust]

"Ellana Ashara- yep. Got one for you right here." He digs through his pack, letters rifling as he picks through the paper. The noise picks up the attention of both the horse and the dog- the Bay mare leaning against him, nosing at his shoulder as he picks pulls out the wrapped papers in question- Jayne outright rears up to nip at his wrist. "Arrête ça-"

The horse is nudged away gently- the mabari? Not so much. He gets a boot which gets a grunt- but Mal's wrist is freed up easily. "Here you go. Might be more than paper in there, feels kinda heavy."

[serannas]

The dog leaping has her jumping back a step, even though he's not jumping at her. She merely reacts since he's a big dog and she's a waif if ever there was one. And she can hardly blame the man for kicking at the dog since he's been hurt by him. She knows nothing of dogs' behaviors, but that didn't look pleasant, even if it was meant to be playful on the dog's end.

"Really?" she asks, taking the letter and recognizing Atisha's handwriting. "I can't imagine what." She squeezes the letter, trying to guess.

[aintwejust]

"Down, Jayne-" Another whap, folded papers of another letter right on the nose. It gets the dog to sit at least. Even gets him to whine. "Now don't look at me like that- you made a fuss so you got whapped. Pardon him, he gets all kindsa excited around pretty girls. Can't hardly help himself."

It takes a full booted shove against the Mabari's side to get him to move over. Idiot. "It ain't food I can say that much. Jayne'd have been all over it otherwise."

[serannas]

"Well, he hasn't jumped on me yet, which I consider a good thing. I wasn't looking forward to getting bowled over." Still, she gives Jayne a look out of the corner of her eye, just to make sure he doesn't try anything. He could be unpredictable.

"No, she wouldn't send food. The clan has to save all it can, especially in the colder months." Besides, probably the only thing that would keep and fit in an envelope would be jerky, and she knows a mabari would go mad trying to tear into it.

"Are you from Orlais?" she asks, tucking the letter behind her belt. "Those words you said -- I don't understand them, but I thought they sounded Orlesian."

[demonicbeauty]

Ariadne was constantly at loose ends. Which wasn't so bad because it meant that she could watch the way the natives behaved around each other. She was trying so hard to learn the ways of Thedas. But all of it was a bit jumbled in her head. The place was close enough to being like home, but far enough away. Sort of the perfect storm.

Aunt Lysia would be ashamed of her. She was supposed to be a better spy than this.

Still, one didn't easily unlearn everything she'd ever known.

That morning, the courier caught her attention. Couriers were always her favorite people. They could still travel with something close to impunity. They saw things that no one else did. Back home. She was still learning the rules here.

As he went about his business, she followed at a distance. Sometimes in the trees, sometimes walking. She tried her best to stay out of sight, but her curiosity meant that she wasn't exactly at her best. And she supposed that didn't matter too much. What interest would a lost Rifter hold to him?

[aintwejust]

Soldier around long enough and a body got a sense for being watched. Get ambushed more than once and it was less a 'sense' and more a prickling at the back of the neck that wormed it's way through skin and into bone in short order. Fairly certain that no one that was out for his head or his hide was this far up north or would get caught dead with the Inquisition- Mal ignored it for the moment.

Went about delivering his letters like he was paid to. Fighting off Jayne for the packets that had food and things that smelled like food and even a few things that didn't but the damn mabari was hungry anyway. If Jayne caught on that they were being watched- he was too hungry to be bothered to sniff it out. Lazy dog.

[demonicbeauty]

Every scent the dog caught, Ariadne caught as well. She still wasn't entirely familiar with all of the fare in Thedas, but she had enough sense and familiarity to know that it was food. She watched the way the poor dog went after it all and her heart bled for him a little. Poor mutt. He was hungry.

Animals loved Alastrians. And the reverse was true as well, at least in Ariadne's case. So without too much hesitation, she dropped out of a tree--only a few meters away--and reached into her pack, pulling out a hank of bread she'd been saving for later.

Carefully and neatly, she crouched down, holding it out toward the dog.

[aintwejust]

"Wouldn't do that were I you-" not that it stopped her. Not that it stopped Jayne from lunging for the bread like he was after the only meal given to him in months.

Which was a lie, Mabari's are big, make no mistake. Jayne? Was a mite bit cuddlier on account of always eating. Mal fed him and fed him well but the beast had a hole in his stomach or something that never rightly got filled. Little Greed Demon in the making, that.

Mal managed to snake out a hand and grab Jayne by the ear to keep him from bowling the girl over, even if it dragged him a few steps forward in the process. "For the love of- down. DOWN. Don't encourage him, honestly, he got fed this morn'n."

[rathercommon]

"Oh - "

Kitty does have food. She's on her way out to do a bit of bartering with some of the nearby homesteaders, trading some of her accumulated rations (of which she has a fair amount) for wool or and other warm garments. So the dog butts her with its head, and it is a very large dog and she is a very small dwarf. It's enough to tip her right over and send her landing on her butt in the dirt, giving a cry of protest as she does. (Or...Well. Cry might be somewhat too dignified an identification of the noise she makes. It might be something a little closer to squeak. No matter.)

[aintwejust]

"JAYNE!" Of all the connerie he's had to deal with today, Mal's got to put wrangling this dog as the most trying. Even for Jayne this is bad behavior- to that he's about to pretend he can wrangle the dog into any kinda good behavior but still, he knows better. More than one whap upside the head ought to have taught him better.

Apparently he's as bad with orders as the man he was named for. Figures.

Mal swings down off the mare, butt of his spear snapping up to smack Jayne under his jaw with enough force to stun and startle and get him to SIT rather than maul. "Now what do I keep say'n you bête enragée? Dwarves ain't for eating."

Dog chastised (or something like that) Mal offers his hand down to the dwarf in question. "Sorry 'bout that. He gets mighty stupid around food."

[rathercommon]

She reaches up for his hand. It's a bit of a long reach. She's going to have a bruise tomorrow, but she's survived worse than a bruise before, and otherwise no damage has been done. Honestly, it looks like the dog got it worse with that spear. So she tamps down her irritation at the dog, and sighs and responds - "Just about everyone does nowadays, don't they. I can't fault him for being a little more shameless about it than most."

Then, as she's dusting off her trousers, she says, "He's a mabari, isn't he? I didn't realize they were quite that big."

[aintwejust]

He bends to make the reach a mite bit shorter, no reason she's gotta strain herself on account of his dog being an ass. Once she's up he offers a cut of a friendly smile, something to smooth over the slobbering beast that follows him around. "It'd make more sense if he ain't been fed, but see'n as he has been fed it's just bad manners. He goes after you like that again feel free to punch him in the nose. He'll leave you alone. Won't use his teeth none."

Jayne, in the way all Mabari seem to have, understands enough to whine and lean against Mal's leg all sad and innocent like. It's a lie. "He's a bit of a special case. Big on height and big in weight. Could stand to miss a few meals, honestly."

[nofury]

"Not sure mabari speak Orlesian. On principle."

Maria was brushing down her own horse- or, rather, the one she'd mentally taken as her own in the stables. The horses were communal, but given the choice she'd take this one. And ignore the strange bog unicorn still lingering somewhere in the the fort at all cost. But she had a few treats in her pocket for the horse, one of which is spared for the sniffing dog. Call it Ferelden pride apologizing for the language of their former occupiers being thrown at such a noble hound.

[aintwejust]

"He don't speak much of anything that ain't gett'n him fed. Off, I said, c'mon." Collaring a Mabari wasn't done- armoring one? Sure. Collaring? Not so much. Though Mal did give it a fair bit of thought when he had to grab at Jayne's scruff to haul him bodily away from the woman he'd been accosting. For all his swearing at the dog being in Orlesian, Mal don't sound much of anything of the sort- more like a Marcher or a surface dwarf than anything else.

Made the fancy swearing stand out a little more, he figured, but it was his way.

[nofury]

"If only more were so wise."

The faint smile stays in place, even as the dog is hauled off. No matter what, they were part of the culture. Filthy dog lords they were, she couldn't be upset at the dog. Or the man showing his status to the hound. Still, more men could do with only talking when it came to their survival needs instead of just for fun.

"Both of you here to join our Inquisition?"

[aintwejust]

"I'm here to deliver some letters, he's here to eat-" There's a whuff of air behind him as his bay mare leans her muzzle over the his shoulder, they're in a stable. "And she probably wants to get combed down and warmed up."

Jayne wanders to the nearest empty stall and after patting the mare's muzzle, Sasha deigns to follow the mabari. After a moment's thought Mal starts unbuckling the clasps of his bracer, voice still nonchalant as anything. "And moreover, I keep hear'n that here's the place to bring people with particular kindsa problems."

[noleechesneeded]

There was a snuffling outside his tent. It was followed by a scratching and low growling as whatever beast had made its way into Skyhold seemed intent on pushing through the tied closings and getting at whatever it could find inside. In retrospect it should have been plainly obvious that opening the tent flap was not what Simon should have done.

Several minutes later Simon, staff in hand, was trying his hand at very angry herding and having at least some success. Jayne had managed to drool over his mortar and pestle but thankfully there had been nothing immediately available to eat. Though Simon was sure he would have started chewing on the table if Simon hadn't started poking him out.

"Where did this monster come--" A familiar flash of brown leather caught his attention, Simon's stomach dropping for a moment. He knew this dog smelled familiar...

"...Captain? When did you...why did you bring the dog?"

[aintwejust]

"Didn't bring him, he followed me." Immediate reaction to an familiar yet unfamiliar voice that he couldn't quite place till he finished handing off a letter to a scout and turned to look at-

Well shit.

Simon Tam.

"...That little pale bug of a sister of yours ain't around, is she?" His hand went tight around the clasp of his satchel, eyes darting all over. Last thing he needed is her digg'n around in his legitimate business. Or his illegitimate business.

[noleechesneeded]

The dog was forgotten for the moment, giving the mabari a chance to slip away which Simon knew someone was going to regret. More important than that was the fact that Captain Reynolds was here, in Skyhold, something that was entirely unexpected and slightly nerve-wracking for the mage at the same time. He'd gotten enough lectures from the man on his ship to last him a lifetime...at least Skyhold wasn't 'his ship' so 'his rules' no longer applied.

"Her name is River, and yes," Simon accused, folding his arms over his chest and resting his staff in the crook of his elbow. "She's...she's here with me."

Not here, here. River seemed to be hiding from him more often lately, usually when it was getting closer to trying a new medicine. Part of him didn't blame her but it made trying to help her increasingly frustrating. That or she was finding new and exciting places to lose her shoes again.

"Why are you here?" he asked with a very fine point, tilting his head up at the captain.

[aintwejust]

"Li'l River Bug, yep." Creepy little critter, sees things, says things. Ain't much of it wrong but it all does damage a man's calm when he's expect'n someone that young to be a mite less whimsical in the brainpan. Least at the moment there doesn't seem to be hide nor hair of the girl. Just her brother. Which ain't all that much of an improvement; fussy guy like him.

This ain't the last thing he needs but it sure ain't high on his list of preferred face to bump into.

"Work'n. Got a job send'n packages and mail about since it seems like a bit of the usual couriers are of the opinion it's too damn cold or there are too many bears to make the trip up." See. Legitimate businessman, is Mal. "What're you do'n here? Figured you'd be off in some ivory tower or some such, chas'n your sister all around."

[girlinthebox]

There's a faint, rhythmic thump-thump-thump that turns out to be the heels of a rather heavy pair of boots, kicking back against stone. River's found yet another ledge on the battlements to perch herself on to watch the comings and goings of the keep, to listen to whispers and laughter and all the muted sounds just waiting on the other side.

Then it's like an old familiar tune heard in the distance, growing louder. She spies Mal and the rhythmic thumping stops, as she debates dropping down and approaching him.

Well. He'd see her just fine up here, anyhow. Hidden in plain sight, as the saying goes.

[aintwejust]

A faint thud thud thud that's as familiar as it is vex'n- Simon he'd seen and wherever that mage did wander his little sister was sure to follow. With a good deal less cargo on hand compared to the whole of the ship there's only so much mischief she could make. Right?





Right?

His hand goes tight around the strap of his satchel, eyes scanning up high- like he would for a cat. She liked being high, he remembers that much- and soon enough he finds her. Mind'n her own business. Casual like. "Long time, no see li'l bug."

[girlinthebox]

"Buzz buzz."

It comes out deadpan, so it's on purpose. She's lucid enough today to respond in kind, to observe him moving about without too many echoes interfering. "The pond is quiet today. Fewer ripples," she observes, as if telling him it was sunny outside, a fact that should be obvious to anyone.

"But you brought pebbles with you."

[aintwejust]

Oh good, she's actually mind'n what she hears today. That's good. Means she'll talk sensical.


Or.


Not.

"...You know, I'm never sure if it means you're do'n better or I'm do'n worse when you talk like that and I find that I can follow your mean'n." Probably a bit of both, crazy as the world is. "Ain't got any pebbles for you, though, so mind your hands."

Like she can jump down here and upend his bag without him noticing. Well- she can. He's seen it. He'd like it to not happen.