open.

[soulrot]

WHO: Wolfram & You
WHAT: Fresh meat, slightly tainted.
WHEN: Drakonis!
WHERE: The Gallows.
NOTES: be nice im new

i. research workroom

He's an unobtrusive arrival—no rifts, no bear announcements. Overnight a desk in the Research workrooms that was previously unoccupied becomes occupied, first only by ink and blank paper and other small signs of life, and then, intermittently, by 6'4" of leanly muscled human, usually slightly damp. He spends most of his time there reading. Getting up to speed. He says hello and excuse me and, if asked, Ram Tjäder. Maybe Senior Warden if pressed. Enough syllables for an Ander accent to be obvious, at least.

It's only several days after he first appeared that he drops his current set of documents on his desk, abruptly, and asks whoever is there to be asked, "Do you know anything about Soldier's Peak? I heard that you went there. Some of you. A long time ago."

ii. the walls

There's no thunder, so he can't be out here hoping to be struck by anything. There are only sheets of rain and enough wind to slant them, all lit with the luminous grey that means the sun is up there behind the clouds somewhere. And Wolfram is dripping wet, facing out over the water toward the city, and trying to catch raindrops in the mouth of his flask.

Footsteps, or movement—either way, he's not cool enough or mesmerized enough not to startle. But he recovers from it smoothly enough, without dropping his flask over the side of the wall onto the rocks and waves below. And since he has someone to ask: "Do the mountains turn green?"

He would think so, with all of this rain. But he's heard, too, that Kirkwall is black and grey year round.

Comments

ii

[fairforce]

"And flowers grow."

Tiffany's waxed cloak repels the worst of the rain, and the hood is large enough that it can be pulled down over her brow to keep her face from getting too wet. There is still rainwater on her cheeks which might look like tears if it wasn't raining in sheets and if she wasn't smiling so pleasantly besides.

She looks out over the parapet. Rain makes a curtain around the Gallows but there are other forms lurking out there that can be made out, if you are really looking--Kirkwall behind them, the mountains before them. Lacking in the twinkling lights of Kirkwall, the Vinmarks look more like slumbering behemoths. Isn't there some legend about that?

"It's pretty, really. I should think they'll start to turn any day now--one morning you'll wake up and they'll be wrapped in cloaks of springtime."

[soulrot]

Ram's sideways look, meant to be brief, catches and lingers on her face—because she's pretty, of course, and because of what she's saying. How she's saying it. Hopeful poetry.

He's very tired.

"Something to look forward to," he says, subdued with notes of surprise, like things to look forward to are rare. "I have passed through before, but only in the winter."

[fairforce]

"Oh, it's all very miserable in the winter. You're very lucky to be here when we're coming out of it, and you can replace your first impression with a new one. Of course it won't last long," in case he was harboring too much hope. "It will be dull and gray before you know it. I suggest coming up here at least once a week to make the most of it."

Tiffany reaches up to twitch her hood back a little, sending a flow of rainwater down the back of her cloak.

"Only if you're here permanently. Are you?"

[soulrot]

What a question, says his eyebrow raise and head tilt. Or perhaps, are any of us? Or some other wry and semi-philosophical non-answer. It is a wry and semi-philosophical non-answering gesture, in general.

"Maybe long enough for it to lose its color again," seems a reasonable bet.

He sighs. It puffs his lips out.

"Maybe longer. I heard that there was only one Warden remaining here, and with the work you do, you must need more."

[fairforce]

She smiles in response, a pleasant contrast to his expression. It isn't false or put-on. She's genuinely--gently--amused by his expression, by his commitment to refusing her light-heartedness.

"I think we won't refuse anyone who comes to aid in our work. Especially a Warden. I wouldn't say I know Ellis very well, but we've had cause to work alongside one another, of course." She tips her head, a little teasing glint in her eye. "Tell me, are you all this way?"