faderift | [closed] we played hide and seek in waterfalls, we were younger

Entry tags:

[closed] we played hide and seek in waterfalls, we were younger

WHO: Lace Harding and Katniss Everdeen
WHAT: Harding and Katniss go out into the valley together like they used to when they were kids. In other words, quality bonding time.
WHEN: Wintermarch 18, morning
WHERE: Frostbacks, Hinterland valleys, etc
NOTES: No warnings at present, will update.

It hadn't been planned. They'd talked about it offhandedly, sure, but it wasn't until that morning when Harding had been in the right place at the right time and it had just happened. Not on patrol but awake at dawn none-the-less, her morning had been largely empty. Not anymore it wasn't, and she didn't mind it - there were far worse ways to spend a morning than on a hunt with your childhood best friend.

It's familiar, in a nostalgic sort of way, even if, at the time, it had always been something more of a novelty to not be guarding sheep and rams. This was Katniss' livelihood, something she had done every day, and Harding had followed without complaint, willing and ready to learn what she did not, and to improve upon what she did. Now was different; going down into the valley happened on a fairly regular basis when she and her fellow scouts were instructed somewhere. But, again, today was different than that, too, because it wasn't just about observation and survival. Well, sure, it was, but that didn't take into account the hunt.

And, well. There's far less ears out in the crisp winter air, which makes it a good place to talk if they want to - even if puffs of smoke form as she exhales and trudges along with bow over her back. She's swapped the Inquisition emblem for jerkin, but kept the plate and mail. The mountain is always snow covered (and a pain), and the valley is much the same this time of year, but at least it thins a little, with forest being the dominant feature. Maybe the bears have finally started to hibernate... she doubts it, but she does hope they don't have to fight one off this morning. Less fun.

Harding expertly clambers up a slight ridge to a vantage point she's used in the past for scout detail, even if now, the forest is still and potentially asleep. "As good a place to start as any," she calls over her shoulder to Katniss. "Am I right?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Katniss had talked about it - over dinners where Harding was working on paperwork, or when she was writing her own observations about her training. Harding's were, as always, better spelled, but it was work and Katniss did it. They talked about it turning training sessions, briefly once when Katniss was teaching John how to track animal prints - and John had made some sort of joke about being so much of a city boy he didn't know anything of how they made it in the Hinterlands.

A laugh, they moved on, but this morning when Katniss was lacing up her boots, there was Harding and she had no reports and no uniform so Katniss asked her to come along. It was like old times - two girls trekking across the forest, their breaths frosting in the early morning light. You couldn't talk until you had caught your breath from the cold, and not until it was just right to start tracking.

Lace took the high position, and Katniss knelt on the ground, eying the snow. Larger animal tracks she avoided - she and Harding couldn't bring back anything larger than a snofleur on their own unless forced. She found some smaller tracks - fennecs, snofleurs, perhaps a few wolves and of course rams. She made a soft noise of approval and nodded her head.

"We should head east from here -- I think there's a stream that runs from the hot springs - animals will be gathering there to drink. She unhooked her bow, pulled out an arrow, and kept it on the ready for anything on the fly. "Keep an eye out for geese - some might have wandered over the mountains this late in the season."

She started to move down the trail, glancing over her shoulder with a faint smirk, "So I hear you and Bruce are going to be sharing the same tent soon?"

Harding watches her work, glancing back over the ridge intermitently - a vantage point only works if you actually keep looking out over it, after all. Whatever Katniss opts to pursue, she'll follow, and the suggestion at heading east to the stream gets another nod.

"I know the one you mean - I think I've seen it. Or heard it, actually." This close to Skyhold and with her and Morgan's combined knowledge of the area, she's never had any real need to seek it out for want of water. Not to mention it's an animal attraction, and staying under cover and unnoticed means avoiding them, but it's a good signpost. "And roger that. I've had enough of angry birds in the Hinterlands already. I'd rather not add to it... let's just hope they haven't shown up at the local watering hole."

They might. Bears or geese. Which is worse?

Harding doesn't even blink at the question of Bruce, sliding down the ridge and skidding to a halt, unholstering her bow in the same motion. She gives a gentle shrug. "We've been talking about it for a while." That's a lie. She's smirking. "Probably going to be around the same time as when you move in with the Commander." That's the evasion. But she's still smirking.

She notched the arrow carefully, holding it down towards the ground as the moved across the snow-covered path. "Frankly, I was thinking they would make good eating - but less angry birds would be nice. The ravens are bad enough."

She still had the marks from when she tried to get Baron Plucky and Buttercup to stop going after one another. She was pretty sure Baron Plucky had been about a minute from becoming cat-food. Ungrateful feathered beast.

Katniss would always vote bears.

The statement got a 'Hah!' out of Katniss, before she looked over her shoulder at Lace, "You are such a liar. No wonder you're such a good scout." Her cheeks flushed but she gave her a wry look. "I sincerely doubt the Commander's going to ask me to move in with him ... ever. Unless he's put a ring on it first. You're more likely to be in love with Bruce than that happening."

Harding gives a soft noise of agreement. Geese could be nice, as long as their numbers aren't too high. Those things have teeth and aren't afraid to use them if under threat. "Just as long as we don't show up back in Skyhold with nugs," Harding says gently. "Not that I'd want to eat one, but... there's a reason nug armour isn't that popular, and it's not because they aren't forthcoming."

It's light, it's durable, it's perfect for a scout. Or it would be if their employer didn't keep nugs as pets and they're about as off limits as ravens are, not that they're very tasty either.

Harding chuckles and gives another shrug, though this one is rather grand and purely showmanship. "Eh, I try." But it's a good icebreaker. The rumours of her and Bruce are just that, rumours, but she'll make the most of it whilst it lasts. It's not harmful, she'd be more surprised if the scouts had no rumours to spread, and Bruce doesn't mind, and neither does she. Whatever they want to think. "I don't think Bruce and I have that kind of lasting relationship. I'd say yours is likely to fair better by sheer virtue that it exists, more than mine." And hey, he could ask. She might gently ask him about it the next time she delivers reports. Subtly, like.

"Listen, I only hunt nugs for pets these days." Katniss said wryly, "The days are long gone when I was hungry enough to eat them myself." Easy pickings, for a ten year old hunter trying to feed her and her sister. Larger game sooner made for better feeding, and the nugs were left alone. Probably a better idea anyways, considering how sensitive the Nightingale was about the little pig things.

She smirked at that, before she crouched down again to take a closer look at the hoof prints. Ah good, rams. She led off slightly more north, before looking over her shoulder. The blush is still high on her cheeks, before she sighs, "Honestly? I keep waiting for Buttercup to bite me and wake me up from it being real. Of course, dream-Cullen wouldn't be so over-worked." She paused, thinking about it, "He would probably have on less clothing as well ..."

Shaking her head mentally, she cleared her throat, "Regardless - do you know how many traditions I'll have to go through when he wants us to get serious? Dalish traditions, Fereldan traditions, all of that." She gave Lace a thoughtful look, "Do you like Bruce?"

"Less clothing, huh." Harding doesn't have to say anything more. She just nods, thoughtfully - not that she's thinking about Cullen. She likes him enough as a Commander, but on a list of attractive Skyhold men? He's not at the top. Nah, that's Zevran, lobbying with Dorian for position. And Krem. She could watch Krem train for hours (and has. Maker). No, she just keeps nodding, pensive, letting Katniss draw her own conclusions and have her own thoughts about their dear Commander. "That's the thing they don't tell you about being in charge of something. The reports and paperwork. Trust me when I advise against promotions." She's kidding, mostly; she loves her job, and all parts of it. It just has a lot of written work to do when she's not out there in the wilderness, which is the bit she prefers.

Speaking of wilderness, Harding scans the treeline after a bit of movement attracts her attention. The rams? Could be druffalo; more likely to stick around, and they'll leave you be if you leave them alone. Best to stick to the original plan and not to interfere with their grazing.

It's also good time to think on Katniss' later question. "We are together, aren't we? That should speak for itself." But there's only so far she can lead Katniss on with this - the scouts have their own opinions, formed and somewhat founded, as does most of Skyhold. But there's no fooling someone she's known for the majority of her life. "He's a good friend," she says. "I like him a lot. He's insightful. There when you need it. We write, take walks, and sure, we spend a lot of time together, but it's not like that at all." She pauses, then adds, "I'm not surprised everyone thinks we are together, though. Andraste herself could probably see it if she squinted."

"... I just said that outloud, didn't I?" Katniss sighed, as her cheeks turned bright pink. She cleared her throat. trying to pull her thoughts away from that. Clearly, Lace never thought of him without his shirt on, so she was just going to push that right along, thank you. She arches an eyebrow, "Should I remind you of that when you try to promote me?"

Her gaze, and ears, shifted over to the treeline. She eyed the movement, before firmly keeping them away from there. By the movements, something big and heavy. Druffalo, or one of those damned bears.

She arched an eyebrow at that answer, because come on. If she didn't know Lace, she knew Bruce. "Uh-huh." When Lace comes clean, Katniss nods, her grey eyes going a little softer. She has an open place in her heart for Bruce, no matter how much he hated it. "No ... I get it. He's a good man, despite his arguments to the contrary." And she knew the worst of him. "He just ... he needs friends, and I don't know how you did it but you got past the outer shell. So, thanks, Lace."

She's quiet for a moment, "He's like family to me."

"You can," Harding affirms. "But I might just do it anyway." That gets a grin. Think of the joint suffering of paperwork! But she isn't that cruel, least of all to her scouts. Just because she's merciless to a foe doesn't mean she's unkind, though how far she does go does surprise some. Usually for the better.

Harding hopes it's not a bear. The treeline remains still, so unless they've gotten particularly stealthy and non-territorial, it could be. But Harding will hope otherwise.

"It was probably the time I got him to the Crossroads. Or the time with the birds." If you're pursued by angry birds and then angry bears, you're unlikely to come out as anything other than friends. But she does get what Katniss says; some would gloss over him as too much effort, too distant, too something. But she's never felt that way; Bruce has a desire to help, so does she. Kindred spirits. "If it helps, I'm not planning on stopping being that. Skyhold would be very different without him."

But Harding stops, sensing something more. She doesn't want to press, necessarily; a gentle invite to say as much or as little as she wants, however?

"I take it you must have met him a long time ago before Skyhold?"

"You'll regret it. I never went to school past the age of ten. My spelling will give you nightmares." Katniss affirmed, and honestly she didn't even know what she would do with scouts under her. Lace made leadership look easy -- Katniss could never do what Lace did.

She relaxes a little as the trees stop moving, and listens for the sounds of water. Her lips curve at the edges, "Those sound like two stories that should begin with, 'Well shit, there I was...'" She was so damned happy Bruce had stories like that. With Lace, one of the best people she knew. She looked over at her friend, and nodded, "Good. Me either."

No matter how much he argued about it.

She paused then - she couldn't tell Bruce's story, not entirely ... but she could tell the important part. The part she hoped Lace would remember, whenever Bruce was ready to come out as himself.

"I did, a few years back. Do you remember when the Halwer boys and their cronies used to creep around Prim and I? Kind of creeping that had me with a knife under my pillow?"

Harding chuckles. "Writing lessons for scouts. Now there's a thought." Completely hypothetical, of course. As long as you could write, even if your spelling was atrocious, the scouts would take you on; all that mattered was that you could be understood. Harding herself had decent penmanship, but before the Inquisition, it was largely used for trade, accounts, note taking on sheep, occasional letters. Now she wrote every day, almost. Some of the scouts that struggled with writing the most found it easier to deal with encryption, too, because they could be more meticulous about it when learning. There were avenues for improvement, and improving writing ability was a goal, but in the grander scheme, it was a lower one. What mattered was the actual scouting part, and as long as that was doable, it could wait.

"There we were, walking through the Hinterlands, and Bruce disturbed some nesting birds..." Harding begins, dramatically. But then she stops. "Ask Bruce for the rest of it the next time you see him." Seeing as it was, well, kind of his fault. Not that she blamed him. But factually speaking.

Harding considers, watching her step as the snow thins and pools into water. Some of it is stagnant, but the rest could become a stream in the warmer months, as it's moving. Probably towards the river they're looking for, which is good, as that's the direction they're heading. It won't be long, now.

"Sort of. I know how on edge you were."

"I wouldn't mind them." Honestly, Katniss would like to have more writing skills. It was embarrassing that she could read, and speak, but her education always seemed to be hindered. She knew it would take a backseat though, over encryption codes and mapping skills.

"...I will, once he slows down for five minutes." She stated simply, "He's been handling more and more of the healing." And the man wanted his space, so Katniss was going to give it to him.

She made sure her arrow was notched, and slowed her steps as the snow seemed to form more puddles than piles, rolling her feet to make sure her steps stayed quiet.

"Well - they came to Prim's and my house one night, trying to break in. Bruce scared them off, but they hurt him ... and we took care of him until he had healed."

Harding notches an arrow, too, reaching to her quiver and running her fingers along its edge until she's happy with the positioning. She keeps most of her attention on the ground - the snow leaves tracks, but the water masks them. The land, however, is soggy, but it's best not to be caught unawares.

"That sounds like him. Stepping in to help someone," Harding says, with a half-smile. She's glad Bruce was there, but equally as much annoyed that they tried to break in and tried to hurt Katniss and Primrose. And that Bruce got hurt in the process. Even if she wonders; he avoids most conflicts, and to scare away two thugs, the likes of which made Katniss sleep with a knife under her pillow? There's something she's missing, here, but she has no real way of knowing. Perhaps he's just really good with knives, or something. Which would make sense, him being a surgeon. "I guess the Inquisition does have a way of pulling the people who matter together again."

Katniss slows her steps, because a single splash could give away their position. They didn't want to scare away all the game by a mis-step or a single branch giving away their position. She glanced over at Harding.

"It's exactly like him. And ... I suppose so." She wasn't really sure about it - but it did seem like they were all being pulled together. One way or another, the people here were pulled together for a reason. What that reason was? She had yet to discover. "After all, we're together, aren't we?"

She shot Lace a wry little smile, before tapping her finger over her lips. Then she crept around the trees, arrow and bow at the ready. The rams were there, drinking deeply. She took aim, and fired, taking down the first of the rams, then smoothly grabbing another arrow to take down another beast.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[closed] we played hide and seek in waterfalls, we were younger

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject