Skyhold

[faderifting]

WHO: Anyone & everyone
WHAT: Open post for business as usual around Skyhold
WHEN: The first couple weeks of Harvestmere, 9:41 (aka October)
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: Please mark any necessary content warnings in thread subject lines. Also, make sure to check out the other log posts already made!

Far from the glamorous adventurous world-saving people signed up for, most of the hustle and bustle in Skyhold at present is cleaning. The Great Hall is a disaster, and crews are assigned to haul out the cracked and rotting planks fallen from the wide-open roof, and tear down the vines covering the walls. Ivy encrusts the main staircase outside and many of the fortress walls and is cleared in section while other groups assess or begin shoring up the stonework as it's revealed. There are scaffolding to build, materials to sort, crates to unload, tents to stitch together or set-up, and on and on and on, endless mundane chores vital to the survival of the organization.

When not hard at work, people cluster around fires across the courtyards. Many mingle freely, going about their business, running errands and messages, planning scouting missions, tallying up supplies, distributing or playing with the sending crystals that were found in a basement vault and which a group of mages have just today finished preparing for use. Once a good number have been passed around and the first Inquisition-wide transmission made messages start being broadcast; maybe you can help someone out.

The rebel mages and renegade templars mainly keep to themselves at opposite sides of the complex given the choice. Mages assist with healing and research and bicker amongst themselves about their options and their fate. Templars help train recruits in swordforms and basic combat techniques or spar with the more advanced and bicker amongst themselves about their options and their fate. Despite having all pledged themselves to the Inquisition, they still feel like separate factions and tension between them is palpable wherever they cross paths.

Like at meals, or the communal message board in the courtyard, or at the Herald's Rest. The mess hall/tavern is so new it still smells of sawdust, and its stock has been limited to one type of strong ale until today, when a shipment of West Hill brandy has finally arrived. The mood in the place is convivial in celebration of that, but there's still plenty of muttering, especially as the night drags on and the discontented get further into their cups.

Comments

[hugeinorlais]

Varric didn't jump as a voice suddenly manifested over his shoulder, but it was a near thing. He was fairly perceptive but, honestly, he hadn't heard him approach, not over the general din of Skyhold. No, the reason he hadn't jumped was fairly simple: he'd been friends with Hawke for ten years. It took some real effort to startle him, and probably a reasonable amount of fire as well. Effort and fire, yeah, that sounded about right.

"Depends," Varric said as he finished reading the dull, stilted script of Dunner Mills. The man was as boring as his name and, all in all, only owed Varric a small favor. They'd exchanged the better part of ten letters now and he still hadn't convinced the fellow that selling two dozen long-tables and twice as many rounds would be worth the trek up the Frostbacks.

"Do you charge less than this guy's asking and just how many laws are we talking about breaking?" Varric finished and held the letter aloft.

He didn't usually share his correspondence but he was feeling especially cynical today. After a beat he glanced over his shoulder and, all at once, found an Antivan elf...thief? No, probably not, maybe a bard or smuggler. He was holding himself with casual certainty. Whatever he did, he was good at it.

Damn, if he was going to start hiring people to lean on his contacts directly, Dunner Mills was a waste of coin.

[ombranera]

"Mmm." Zevran took the letter and gave it a quick once over- Dunner Mills? Now that name wasn't horribly familiar but if they had a pulse and a purse he could convince most that the value of one is a good deal higher than the other. Petty thuggery wasn't his usual sort but the Hold needed to become a hold, not a refugee camp. With how things were scattered and tempers were rising any little thing could set the whole lot off and they'd have a miniature mage-templar-civil war on their hands in the courtyard.

"As a favor to a friend of a friend? I would charge nothing- or perhaps hold a favor in reserve further down the line." Coin was well and good but with the upheaval in the world, favors and secrets were the most valued currency. "And if you have to ask about the law- well...probably better that you do not and give yourself a sound, comfortable slumber, yes?"

It wouldn't even take a proper dose of venom. Break in, flash a dagger, discuss the importance of the Inquisition- no one ever wanted to admit to being blackmailed or threatened by an elf. It was unthinkable or something like that.

[ombranera]

"In is an understatement. We were traveling all over Ferelden trying to stop the Blight." And they had succeeded! Marvelous work. Earned him a fair bit of coin and freedom as well, everyone left happy if they left at all.

[hugeinorlais]

The day had been long and Varric was, despite himself, completely exhausted. He'd argued with merchants, argued in letters, and even argued with himself about how silly all the arguing was. The plan had been: go to tavern, have watered down ale, beat someone at cards maybe, and sleep. It was simple.

Easy, even.

Then Merrill just drops herself right into the seat across from him, happy as a clam, and--

Well, Varric was surprised. Extremely surprised. He almost dropped the tankard in his hand but, as a bit of ale sloshed over the rim and narrowly missed his leg, he caught himself and set it down. The moment he snapped out of it, he was grinning ear to ear.

"Daisy! You're here?" Varric asked, probably more loudly than was strictly necessary, but it wasn't like she was Blondie. No reason to keep it on the hush-hush, at least not at the moment. "How did they drag you up here? Did you come by yourself?"

[ombranera]

"Well I am a terribly pretty elf." He grins, feigning innocence as his glass of brandy was brought over. "And I may spend my evenings here playing music to ease the tensions a bit."

Lean. Sip.

"Or tell tales of the Fifth Blight and the Hero of Ferelden."

[arlathvhen]

She wants to grab him and shake him until whatever is wrong with him rattles loose, she wants to scream at him, she wants to make him understand. This isn't the clan, Merrick. These people owe you nothing! And she wants to just break down in a fit of stress because one of these days, that won't be another elf behind her with a dagger, it'll be a human, and they will kill Merrick. One of these days she's going to show up and see Merrick dead in the mud, and no justice for his murder, because who would blame a human for fighting against some crazed Dalish?

She doesn't do any of that, because none of that will help out right now. Instead, she embraces Merrick, fingers working through the mud in his hair. "It'll be okay," She tells him, with the low voice she used on panicky halla. "Everything's going to be okay. We just...need to clean you up." She pulls away a bit, to restart the task of using her scarf to wipe at his face.

"You're going to give me gray hairs, Merrick. Then I'll match Pel and Cyril. Is that what you want?"

[hugeinorlais]

"Friend of a friend?" Varric repeated and set the letter back down on the table. "Well, before I start paying in favors, I should probably find out which friend we're talking about."

He asked but, honestly, he could have guessed the answer to that one. Couldn't be someone who knew Fenris or Sebastian, they didn't have any friends that weren't Hawke, and probably not the kind of guy who knew Daisy. Might know Aveline, but probably not in a way that would be called friendly, so that basically narrowed it to one.

Well, two, but everyone was friends with Hawke.

He considered turning the elf's offer down. For one, the guy was clearly overkill for this particular problem, and two, Varric really hated paying people in favors, but he was beyond annoyed with the general lack of furniture in Skyhold. If he had to help out a friend of friend in some vague way in the future, well, he'd be doing it at a proper table at least.

"This guy makes tables for a living," Varric warned as he scribed out the shop's address. It was the closest guy he knew, just in the Dales, a little better than a day's trip assuming you didn't get caught in the snow or mauled by bears or something. He'd made an inordinately fancy wardrobe for Varric, once. "Move faster than a tree or talk too loudly and he'll probably faint."

[kremdelacreme]

"Can't imagine 'boring' and 'qunari' fitting in the same sentence anyway." Krem might have actually started looking forward to the potential meeting of the rest of Korrin's company, if they ever showed up. For now, he's fine with his one new friend here. "I've seen some pretty interesting vitaar, you could pull it off well."

[ombranera]

"Mmm. Perhaps two friends, though I do not know how it is you and Isabella are feeling about one another as of late." It could be anything from 'warm' to 'owes me money and ought to die' and every shade in between. Such things he did not truly pay mind unless it was his neck on the line or something he might use to his advantage later. But this? Was more about keeping the peace than anything else.

Jonas would have a laugh at that. Zevran, keeping the peace.

Never the less, something needed to be done and he could see it through- take a little of the weight off this man's shoulders so he could focus on something else that needed tending. He had to give Varric credit- he got things done. Sometimes it took awhile, but it was done.

Zevran accepted the address as given, peering down at it. Should not take him terribly long. "And only tables? I should think the hold is in need of more than that."

It'll be a start.

[equanimiti]

Just as Alayre reaches for his glass of mead, the elf finally drops the act and tells truth. "You're--" A sharp gasp escapes him and Alayre almost spills his mug in shock. He stares at Zevran with his brows arched high and his grey eyes wide in astonishment.

"I knew the name sound familiar." The Knight-Commander whispers quietly in a mild state of shock. Talk about being in good fortunes.

[hugeinorlais]

"That guy's shop is too small to do everything," Varric explained casually, well, more casually than he had been. If this guy was friends with Isabella, especially of late, that meant he couldn't be entirely treacherous. Varric didn't recall his face, but he was frazzled and there had been more than a few outings Hawke hadn't taken him on.

"I've got two more in Val Royeaux and one in Jader making the rest. Jader is the chair guy, but he owes me an arm and a leg, so he's already carting them out here. They might not all match, but it beats sitting in the dirt."

[amygdalae]

[It is very much a pretty good something.

Bruce continues to eat his sandwich, bit by bit, and even goes to drinking the tea she had left for him earlier. It's all very nice, even if its also surprising. But for once its the nice kind of surprise, and not the usual bad ones.]

[arlathvhen]

"Of course it was. Of course he was." She resisted rolling her eyes. At least being in the Inquisition hadn't changed Gavin. Feeding the ravens and managing to fall right onto someone with pointy horns sounded just like him. Beleth glanced up at Korrin's horns as the other woman indicated them, and shakes her head, imagining what would happen if someone had managed to impale themselves on them. Ugh.

"Well--I'm sorry about him. I promise that most of us are a little better--I mean, I didn't land on you." She gave a dry laugh, because it's really not much of an upgrade. "But I'll be more careful from now on. Just let me know if you ever need someone to make like a squirrel up some tree or something, it seems to be one of the things I'm best at."

[quietblade]

[Man Gorse you are so cute. He's gonna have to protect you, isn't he?]

You don't look like the kind that whines when he gets sick, so if you do get the sniffles I'll bring you soup.

[ombranera]

"The lady Montliyet can worry about it matching after we have a roof over everyone's heads, yes?" Tables would be enough- if he could confiscate a cart it would be done all the sooner.

"Are the ones in Val Royeaux being as recalcitrant as your other friend?" Making a trip of it would be exciting. Helping sort out the arrangements was well and good but an Antivan such as he did not do well to pin themselves to one place for too long.

[issala]

[He supposes that is true. It was colder here, after all, and the only fruits he knew that grew in Ferelden aplenty were apples.]

...carrots are good enough.

[Not exactly a picky kid.]

I ate four times already, I think they're getting sick of me in the kitchen... but I've never had this much food before. I can have bread whenever I want! Meat and soup and porridge and stew and boiled vegetables and dried meat and nuts and dried fruits and... loads of things. I gained three pounds already!

[amygdalae]

Most humans, at least. I'm not very familiar with the physiology of the other species myself.

[But he is trying his best to know. The Inquisition, with all kinds of people around, will help Bruce with that pursuit.

At the story, though, Bruce can't help but raise an eyebrow.] Is that so? Well, the human body can be surprisingly durable at times.

[He's not doubting the story or Kas, but it would be interesting if he could meet that person himself.]

[issala]

I think dwarves an' elves are kinda similar to humans. I got horns and stuff that might be real weird.

[Sage nods.]

There was a guy in my kith that ripped his own arm off once. That was really gross but I guess he had to. Got stuck under a rock when the Ben-Hassrath came.

[Kas honey that was way too many weird words.]

[amygdalae]

[It's okay, Bruce has hung around places enough to have picked up some very rudimentary Qunlat.]

Desperate times always call for desperate measures. [A pause.] I hope he got of of that fine, at least?

[ombranera]

"Mhmm...?" Ah, there it was. It's starting to become a familiar look. Odd, but- interesting none the less. "So you have heard of me! Wonderful."

[fleurdesel]

[ The silence is a respite- he'd never seemed the type to talk overmuch which speaks of exhaustion or a desire for solitude. Imposing this much of her company on him feels rude enough, but he'd needed to eat.

When he finishes the first bit of bread, she makes up a second and offers it over in turn, as well as filling up his tea should he finish. ]

[issala]

I think so, he was running with the rest when I left. Didn't even scream or nothing.

[His kith were marauding assholes, but they were cool marauding assholes.]

[equanimiti]

The Knight-Commander nods slowly in confirmation. Just how could he not remember that name? Everyone in Thedas were muttering about the Hero of the Fifth Blight and his stalwart companions. He knew long ago that the hero had allies of every race and background by his side when the Blight threatened to consume the realm. Even those hailing from his tower of Pharos knew about the heroes who nearly sacrificed all for the sake of a greater good.

"Indeed, I have. I'm honored, truly." He says with a faint smile now that he regained his composure. Sauveterre finally takes a sip of his mead and a hum of approval is heard. It seems like the barkeep brought out the good stuff.

"Now I see why you've come all the way here to Skyhold."

[vir_tasallan]

Upon hearing him say her nickname once more she burst into a smile, giggling softly but obviously trying to contain the joy of having someone who knew her as she was. "Oh, y'know me, I'm sure that there'd be great disappointment if I didn't try to save the world." her smile softened a little, remembering Hawke and the inspiration she was. Varric had been closer to Hawke than she had, so she wasn't going to bring up her presumed dead status.

"I was looking after the displaced elves from Kirkwall's alienage, happened across another Dalish clan. They were kind enough to look after those who didn't want to join in. I like to help however I can." It was really good to see Varric, though. He looked decent, despite the little furrows under his eyes. That was new-- or more visible than before.

"Been trying to get ahold of one of your books. Being on the run from Templars makes that tough. Creators, I've missed you."

[arlathvhen]

Beleth looked more perplexed by the compliment than bashful, eyes darting left, then right, as if wondering if someone else had walked up and Zevran started speaking to them without notice. With no one else around, she turned back to him, tilting her head. He called her beautiful? She had to resist apologizing for his poor sight--It'd be rude.

"Well--Thank you. Uh. You're, ah...from Antiva, then?" Let's change the subject to something that doesn't involve people calling her weird and alarming things. "You're a long way from home. Did you come here just to help the Inqusition...?" A man from Antiva who was skilled at using daggers...No, Beleth, it's rude to assume, and probably racist.