faderift | 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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Satisfied that he's actually eating and resting, Adelaide does much the same. No prompting for conversation, no further commentary- peace and quiet. Or as close to it as they were likely to get with the wounded outside the tent that would yet need tending. It is not much, but it is something. ]

[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.]

[ 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. ]

[Bruce is surprised by the second offering, but he takes the bread without complaint this time and eats that too, murmuring a quiet 'thank you' before taking the new cup of tea that had been poured out.

It's really weird, going through this, but it's certainly not bad, and its hard to mind this at all.]

You are welcome.

[ Peace is so rare a thing for those at the healing tents. Sharing a scrap of it with someone that needs it as much as she does- that felt right. Felt kind. Even if he's utterly hopeless. ]

[Bruce eventually finishes up the food and tea, and he has to admit that he feels better than he had been previously. Perhaps he did need some refreshments after all.]

I, um. Thank you, again.

Tomorrow, same time. Come on your own or I will fetch you.

[ Much as she had today, though it's not said unkindly. ]

I'll try to have something more substantial then.

[Bruce almost replies with the standard - you don't have to - but he has a good feeling that she won't be taking that answer well, so.]

I'll try to remember.

[When he gets busy time does kind of just slip away from him.]

I'll not hold your focus on your work against you, I am very much the same way.

[ But rest was rest- and her students if no one else made certain she knew her limits. ]

Adelaide LeBlanc.

[ She offers her hand. It's a cautious, tense gesture- expected but not something with which she is entirely comfortable. ]

And you are...?

[Bruce is also not very used to it himself, but he can pretend well enough when needed, such as now.

He takes her hand in his after a pause, returning the handshake.]

Bruce.

[ It's a brief thing. Palm to palm, quick shake, her hand darts away like a bird afterward leaving not much but the impression of soft skin and perhaps an unnatural warmth. ]

You do good work, Bruce.

[It's hard to blame her for that, and Bruce draws his own hand back once she pulls away, totally not affected by the quick withdrawal.]

I only do my best. [He manages a tiny smile.] You do much better than me.

Different, yes. Better? I would not say that. For all the benefits there are those that would rather go without treatment at all if the only option was magic. You do for them what I cannot.

[ There's a sense of security to be had in a surgeon's hands. Adele can respect that. ]

There's only so much I can do without the aid of magic.

[Sure, people feel safer (and isn't that ironic), but at what cost? Sometimes, when the sickness is so bad that only magic is the only way... Bruce can't help but feel guilty. About not being able to help, and knowing that he could have done more but yet not doing so.]

And what you do is not without value. It will have to be enough- because it is all we are able to offer.

[ Worrying about how much, how better, how many more she could see in a day- if she took those weights upon her shoulders her back would break. They are human above all else. They cannot save everyone. ]

[Bruce always takes those weights onto himself, because its just how he is. Especially when he knows he could have actually done more, if he just let himself use his magic. But of course he can't. He couldn't, not if it meant risking everyone else. Its a terrible line of thought but he had to do it, and the guilt of that haunts him every time.]

Hopefully, there won't be as many people to take care of once everything is more settled.

[Maybe its foolish and naive, but Bruce wants to hope the best for other people.]

Proper accommodations will do much for the spread of illness. Winter is coming. It will be worse before it becomes better.

[ They will lose more people despite their best efforts. Adelaide is resigned to that. ]

But if we work diligently now- it may not be so much worse.

I sincerely hope that will be the case.

[Lives are precious, important, meaningful. Bruce has seen the loss of too many lives by his own hand, directly or indirectly. As much as possible, he would want to prevent more lives to be lost.]

We will manage. It's all we can do.

[ The flap of the tent is tugged up, a little red hair'd elven boy waving to Adelaide before ducking back out. ]

...The line awaits, it seems. Have you had enough time?

Ah--yes.

[He has had a lot more time than expected, really, and Bruce is grateful for it. He starts to stand up from his chair, inclining his head in gratitude.]

Thank you, again. I'm grateful for--this. [He gestures to the table before him, indicating what he meant.]

We need to help one another as much as we help the injured. If we burn out? We're of no use.

[ Still, she manages to offer a thin smile. It's brief but sincere. ]

Take care, Bruce.

...you as well.

[He manages a small smile on his own end, and then proceeds to make his way out of the tent.

He stops at the flap, however, giving her one more glance, and dips his head again.]

I'll see you around.

[Annnd off he goes, back to work.]

Skyhold

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