faderift | Skyhold

Skyhold

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.

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[ Well that had been...fascinating. Qunari move like forces of nature, this he knew, and he had faced some mercenaries years ago but seeing it this close without being distracted by having to survive? Zevran almost feels sorry for whoever is sparring with the great horned marvel. Afterward he cannot help but comment. ]

I do not think I have seen anyone quite that viciously efficient in combat for...well. Roughly a decade to be perfectly honest. [ Sten had been many things- but frivolous in combat? Never. ] Its marvelous.

[Taas had noticed the blonde elf coming over, but he missed some of the man's words while finishing cooling off. It was enough to catch the gist of it, however.

Guy was impressed and liked what he saw.

Eyes on the tattooed man's lips, the qunari smirked again and hefted his two-handed axe over a shoulder.]

I've been doing this for a while. The other guy wasn't bad, either.

[ Oh, how that made the muscles in his chest ripple. Zevran was, to his credit, only momentarily distracted but- it was quite the distraction indeed. ]

It shows. That last barrage? A thing of beauty. Vicious, brutal beauty.

[The qunari warrior's smile grew a bit wider at the elf's look, and he may or may not be adjusting his grip to flex those biceps.]

I didn't quite mean to split his shield, but I suppose he was the one that asked me to spar.

[Hopefully that means he didn't have to pay for it.]

Haven't seen a qunari fight before?

[ Oh that wasn't fair- no. No it was quite fair. Zev was, again, distracted. And the Qunari was doing it on purpose. Marvelous. ]

He should have known what he was asking for.

[ Would he, in the man's stead? Yes. Yes he would.

Yes he does.

Does he? ]

Ah- not for some time. I was in the company of a Sten some time ago but he lacked our...finesse. And your pleasant demeanor.

[Taas shrugs a bit at the first part. The man had probably known what he was asking for. Lots of people out here needing to get their anxiety out by hitting something.

Preferably the largest something. He could get that.

It's curious to hear that the elf used to know a Sten, though.]

The Sten have a lot on their shoulders. Sometimes it sticks with them when they go Tal-Vashoth. I was Karasaad. Infantry.

He wasn't Tal-Vashoth, from my understanding. Dispatched to Ferelden with a small group of his fellows to investigate the Blight, he returned shortly after it ended.

[ He hadn't heard from him since, not for lack of writing. But addressing a letter simply to 'Sten' was not a way to see things sent to the right Qunari. Alas. ]

Karasaad are like a wave upon the shore- or so the saying goes, yes?

[He blinks at that and looks a bit impressed.]

You hung around a Qun-loyal Sten? That's surprising.

[Taas put his axe down again and leans back a little against the stable wall.]

Mm. Waves upon the shore, wearing down the shoreline to form it to the Qun's will - or some bullshit like that.

He was often just that. [ Now and then Zevran wonders what's become of him. ]

That does beg the question...do you still crash upon that which you would form to your will, or is that Qun exclusive?

[ Not his best line but- Shirtless. Qunari. Leaning. There is much to admire. ]

[That earns Zevran another slight grin from the warrior.]

I crash upon what those who hire me wills... and occasionally wearing down other friendlier shores by my own.

[He could have said 'the shores of Antiva', but alas he couldn't hear Zevran's accent.]

Friendly shore, right here.

[ Wait. Did he say that out loud? He did. Oh maker. Where was his cool, where was his suave? Chased away by rippling pectorals and massive hands. ]

I mean to say....well. Exactly that.

[That makes him break out into a rumbling, thunderous laughter, and he claps the elf on the shoulder.]

I'd break your shore in half.

[ Oh, wow. Qunari can laugh. And are utterly gorgeous when they do- be still his beating heart.

Well no that would kill him, please keep beating. ]

I am not so easily broken, I swear.

[He snorts, still amused.]

That's what the last elf said, and she couldn't walk for two days.

[Taas did find the blonde elf attractive and it had been a while, but how much from the other man was fascination and how much of it was serious?]

[ If that was meant to dissuade him, Taas is failing. If anything that makes Zevran lean closer, eyes dark with interest. ]

An easy thing to promise, my friend.

[ Simply because Zevran is fascinated does not make him any less serious. He'd honestly expected to be turned aside. Reciprocation, even of the teasing sort? He can work with. ]

[There's the laughter again, even if it was softer this time and less boisterous.]

You're man who knows what he wants, I see. What's your name?

Zevran Arainai. And yours? I would know the name of the wave that might reshape me, as it were.

[ If he was lucky. ]

[Fuck. Names were always hard to read on people's lips, and that was... complex.]

Sevra?

[Close enough.]

My name does not fit the waves that cut the shoreline. I'm Taashath.

Zevran. [ A beat, he thinks nothing of it. Antivan names are difficult for most unaccustomed to them. ] Though my friends do call me Zev.

[ Taashath- he does not know much of the Qunari tongue and, sadly, the meaning is beyond him. ]

What might your name fit aside from your very fine self, Taashath?

[Same name again. There was an 'n', too? He'd been close, at least. 'Zev' was easier, 'elf' even more so.

...the man looked like he had a nice voice, too. Pity.]

It means 'Calm'. A trick to remember I'm not a beast.

[ Now that earns a lift of his brow as some of the teasing mirth slips from his eyes- the the good humor remains but this seems at least somewhat serious. ]

It seems as though there is a story to be told, if you wish to share.

A long story and I'm far too sober to share it.

[Taas shrugs, not sure why he shared that in the first place. It just tended to go with the name, somehow.]

We could discuss names or I could bend you over one of the hay bales.

Fair enough.

[ That was forward. Forward and exciting- how marvelous! ]

The hay bales seem a wonderful idea, you'll hear no complaints from me. You'll hear something, but it will not be complaints.

I can't hear anything, so that's not new.

[He gestures to one ear and then sizes Zevran up again.]

...so tap me twice if you need to stop.

...I had no idea. That does explain the looking at my lips- I had thought you found me as enthralling as I find you.

[ He crackles a laugh, a little embarrassed at not noticing- it is something he SHOULD notice, but now that he knows? They can move forward safely. ]

That is fair enough- I think I can remember should I need to ask for a breather.

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quietblade - 2015-10-18 00:36 (UTC) - Expand

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ombranera - 2015-10-18 01:10 (UTC) - Expand

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