Yup, what's goodie

[clawings]

WHO: Erik Stevens & Y'ALL
WHAT: Checking things out, buying some stuff, reading books, &c
WHEN: ooc: December | ic: Cassus
WHERE: Exploring Kirkwall and the Gallows, &c
NOTES: Erik curses but that's probably gonna be it

→ I got all the sounds, got plenty; open

[ Here are a few places one can find Erik within the Gallows on a regular basis:

The Library: Reading a little bit of everything, actually but focusing on recent history reports, whatever passes for science fiction, books about the Fade, and books about religion. Oh and a book or two on elven culture. Shh.

He's here at all sorts of hours but mostly between 11pm and 5am, apparently not sleeping very well otherwise. Why else be in a library at prime sleeping time?

The Smithy: Erik is fascinated by this area and mostly writes notes about whatever process he's allowed to observe here. Leave his little engineering heart alone about it! (Or don't, actually. Bothering him is preferable to the narration.)

The Herb Garden: Because he's curious if he recognizes any plants from home. Spoilers: he doesn't, but he keeps coming back anyway, usually in the early afternoon.

Training Area: Sparring with swords and spears, because there's no excuse not to stay in shape. Also there's a war on? So. Come gawk at the man. It'll be fun.

Anywhere else: He explores the entire Gallows during his quarantine and then does it again afterward, so consider this an open invitation to wildcard me.
]

→ You should ask around, my city; open

[ Erik discovers the market district in Lowtown and spends an inordinate amount of time there, mostly browsing, but occasionally buying small items. A scarf at one point. Close to the middle of the month he is clearly looking for something specific - jewelry, it would seem. He picks up bracelets, necklaces, earrings, but doesn't seem to settle on anything for a while.

You can also find him in the occasional tavern. He hates drinking alone; join him? ]

→ You should get to work, get busy; closed to athessa & vanadi

[ Erik left a note at Athessa's. Now he just has to wait for them to show up. So he's chilling in the herb garden, again, this time at sunset. ]

Comments

[sulahnan]

[ She's listening as actively as she can while still watching his form to see where he needs direction and where instinct has him covered, nodding understanding of the information given, but still focused enough to instruct: ]

Try not to grip the reins too tight; you don't gotta pull very hard to get her to go where you want. If you feel unsteady, best to hold on here — [ Athessa pats the pommel of her own saddle. It sits up off the horse's shoulder just far enough to get a hand in between hide and leather. ]

Would asking you what military school is like be a boring question for you to answer? [ There, back to listening and participating in two conversations at once.

She has to wonder what it was like for N'Jadaka to escape from familiar circumstances, and the urge is there to share her own past — orphaned at thirteen, deposited drugged and bleeding on a brothel's doorstep at sixteen, on a ship to Rivain at seventeen — but telling him feels far different than telling Vanadi or Bastien. ]

I left Kirkwall to go to Rivain when I was sixteen. I don't think I would've survived this long if I hadn't.

[clawings]

[ He adjusts his grip and lets the reins settle in one hand while the other rests against the pommel. There's still something unsettling about moving while riding another animal, but he's pretty sure the first people to ride in an automobile probably felt the same way. It's all a matter of what you're used to, he guesses.

The new normal. ]

It was hell. I was small. I was younger than most of the other boys, I had a chip on my shoulder. I wasn't from a military family, I was singled out a lot. But I had something to prove, too. I wanted to do well. I didn't think I had any other options.

[ He considers what he knows about Rivain. It isn't much. Still: ]

That's a long boat ride.

[sulahnan]

Mm. [ A nod in the affirmative, and when Athessa"s horse starts walking toward the stable doors, N'Jadaka's mare follows. One of the stable hands opens the doors and shuts them behind the pair, leaving them to blaze their trail. ] Long time to spend seasick, that's for damn sure.

But I also didn't think I had any options. Would you do anything different, if you had the chance?

[clawings]

Not at that point. I could've gotten into so much else, so much worse. I think I did the best with the information and skills I had at the time.

Later though... [ He shakes his head as the horses continue on. Swallows and glances at the horizon in front of them. ] I made a lot of calculated choices that got me nothing but a trail of bodies in my wake.

[ And if he's here, when he's supposed to be dead, well. He can and does like to imagine it's a second chance, to make better choices. Maybe live a better, longer life.

Maybe. He is aware there's a war on. ]

[sulahnan]

[ Athessa watches him, rather than where they're going. He's nervous enough to be hypervigilant, so she can afford the distraction of trying to read his expression, his body language. She already has one note of criticism, but it can wait. ]

Did they deserve it? [ She's no saint herself; there are a few people who would be alive now if it weren't for her, people who didn't deserve the fallout from choices she's made, but N'Jadaka's guilt feels more...direct. Pointed. First-hand. ]

[clawings]

[ It's not that he has to think about whether or not it was deserved, it's... more thinking about how best to put it. Either way, there's a thoughtful pause on his end before he answers. ]

It could be argued that some definitely didn't, [ he says, pulling a bit of a face where all his mouth goes into one corner. He's sure someone would say that about the museum curator, for instance, but he wouldn't necessarily agree. ] or at least, didn't deserve to die by my hands specifically.

[ Like his ex. ]

[sulahnan]

Well, you're in good company. I don't think there's a single person here who hasn't got a death like that—or many deaths like that—hanging over them.

[ For all the deaths she's had a hand in, she can hardly judge. Maybe it was different for him, because there's a war on here and there might not have been in his world, but...well. ]

Do you regret it?

[clawings]

[ He agrees that he's in good company but that has a lot more to do with being in her company than anything. ]

I dunno, [ he admits, ] 'cuz, on the one side, shit was fucked up. On the other I probably wouldn't have ended up here otherwise, I figure.

[sulahnan]

[ That has to sink in for a beat. ]

Is being here really enough of a positive to cancel out the fucked up-ness of the other shite?

[clawings]

It could be.

It's different as hell but it's a chance to start the fuck over. To do better. Wouldn'ta gotten that chance, back home.

[sulahnan]

Huh.

[ Athessa Approves, +10. She doesn't know too many people who would react to being ripped from their own reality with such grace; she certainly wouldn't. If she died and woke up in Kirkwall, she'd be pretty thoroughly convinced she'd done something to offend some deity that chose to punish her for eternity. ]

You ready to go a bit faster? [ Their horses have carried them at a respectful pace to the drawbridge out of the city, and there's still more for N'Jadaka to learn about riding. Like how to stay in the saddle at speed. ]

[clawings]

[ Erik has considered that this is punishment; he deserves it, he knows that much. But he isn't always sure when there are things he likes about it, on how the suffering evens out in the end.

He can't spend all his time frozen in fear, thinking about how it could all go sideways. He has to move forward, or at least move. With that in mind he tries to engage his core and nods at Athessa. ] Hopefully I don't fall the fuck over.

[sulahnan]

[ She grins at him and laughs, not at him. ]

Do you dance, N'Jadaka?

[ The clip-clop of horse hooves on cobblestones takes on the richer, more hollow sound of hooves on wood as they start to traverse the drawbridge. ]

Or sing? Play an instrument?

[clawings]

I dance, sometimes. [ He puts the reigns in one hand and waves the other in a so-so motion. ] Prolly don't look nothin' like dancin' 'round here, though.

Can't sing for shit. Never learned an instrument.

What about you?

[sulahnan]

Sure, all three. [ But enough about her. ]

You just gotta feel the rhythm of the hoofbeats, and stand up in the stirrups in time with it. Otherwise your butt will just bounce on the seat and you're more likely to fall off.

[ With a click of her tongue, Athessa urges her horse into a trot and demonstrates for a few beats before looking over her shoulder to watch him follow suit. ]

[clawings]

[ So they'll have to go out dancing at some point, is what he's hearing. Right?

He watches her, though, keeping a keen eye on her ass as she and the horse move ahead of him. It takes him a moment to do the same, but after about three tries he gets the rhythm of it. It's complicated by the fact that horses move with four legs, but not impossible. ]

I think I got it.

[sulahnan]

Look at you, you're a natural! A bit of practice and you'll be able to ride in your sleep.

[ Three tries is better than five or falling off, that's for damn sure.

There really isn't much reason to go faster than a trot until they get somewhere they can run the horses — a beach, preferably, so N'jadaka can have something soft to land in when he inevitably does. ]

[clawings]

[ He lets out a startled chuckle, surprised somehow that he's managing this well. ] So far this is going way better'n I expected.

Where are we headed, anyway?

[sulahnan]

Dunno. Someplace, probably.

[ She grins at him, teasing. ]

I figured we'd go to the coast, ride in sand or somethin' so you don't have to worry about hurting yourself. Unless you have someplace specific you'd wanna go?

[clawings]

Nope. [ He shakes his head. ] 'm still wrapping my head around the idea that we could go just about any-fuckin'-where riding one of these, to be honest.

It's different, is all, back where I come from. Eventually I'll stop bein' shocked about it, I guess.

[sulahnan]

Hmm, maybe.

You should keep a little bit of the shock, though. [ She holds her thumb and forefinger this far apart to demonstrate how much to keep. ]

It's nice to have a sense of wonder about things.

[clawings]

I'll do my best. [ He smirks at her. ] Don't want you to get tired of me too fast.

[sulahnan]

[ Athessa laughs. ]

I don't think you need to worry about that. You're not exactly typical, after all.

[clawings]

[ Another smirk. He feels pretty good about this (outing and conversation, both) right about now. ]

You'll warn me if I start to get too boring or regular, right?

[sulahnan]

Only if you'll return the favor.

[ Is it better to be told when someone tires of you than to be completely unaware of it? To receive a slap in the face rather than just let the interest fade? Maybe. Maybe not.

Whatever. Athessa points down the road at a knobbly old tree with strips of tattered cloth hanging from the branches. ]

See that tree? Just past it is the path down to the coast. Whaddya say we have a little race to see who can get there first?