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

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin shrugs, having accepted any risk long ago. "It's what comes to being a mage, whether Vashtoth or human or elf. What we do always has carries some risk, but is passing on knowledge gained more risky than random experimentation? I don't think so, not if we're careful. We'll need more than what we have in order to stop that darkspawn bastard, anyway. If he wins, it's not going to matter what else happens."

[lacere]

"That's true enough," Harding relents. "I wouldn't ask the scouts under me to take many risks, but they do. I shouldn't be surprised magecraft would be the same."

[gatheringstorm]

She nods to that, appeased. "It's more or less exactly that. By the way, I saw that you have a new scout-in-training. The Vashoth boy, Kas. What do you make of him?"

From her tone, she's rather fond of the brat, but she's also interested in an honest assessment, if Harding has one. If he's going to be out on the field, she's curious to see how well he's coming along.

[lacere]

"He sticks out," she says almost immediately. Sticking out is not hard, but the visual part is now how she means in this instance. "I can't quite tell if he's the member of the flock that constantly has to be accounted for or he'll get into trouble, or the one that'll do all that anyway but actually be better of for it."

That's the long opinion. The other is short and sweet. "He's young, but he's got promise. When he follows orders. We're working on that."

[gatheringstorm]

That opinion gets her to chuckle, and she can't help but nods in agreement Harding's assessment of Kas.

"I get the impression that he's not used to people giving him much in the way of respect. Being here is probably the first break he's had in a long time. If he can curb that impatience and realize he doesn't need to be on the defensive with everyone, I think he'll stand a good chance in proving himself."

[lacere]

Harding makes a soft noise of agreement. "You have to give people a chance. We can't afford the luxury to judge based on who they are, where they came from, the fact that others would tell them they're too young - you treat them the same, and see what they can do." It's what Charter did when she first showed up, leather jerkin and a bow and wanting to help guide them through the Hinterlands. It feels like a lifetime ago, a lifetime away from the responsibilities of people and much more sheep. "If he has what the Inquisition needs, then we'll make use of it. Even if someone else carries the torch, we're all parts in the machine."

Harding pauses, considering word choice. She shakes her head. "Maker, I sound so much like a dwarf when I say that."

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin has to stop sipping at her drink, before she ends up choking on it with that comment. She laughs, shaking her head. "There's nothing wrong with that, you know. At least you're a cute dwarf." What, it's true. Between the hair and the freckles, she's surprised Harding doesn't get more attention when in Skyhold. It's a crime, truly.

[lacere]

That gets her attention. Harding blinks, but makes no other than that, there's no real reaction. But the silence is telling in that she's considering what Korrin said and whether she disagrees and the context. Eventually she makes up her mind with a shrug and a soft smile. "Not really. But I won'd stop you from thinking so."

[gatheringstorm]

"Good, because I won't. You give yourself too little credit." But she'll let it go at that, not wanting to make her drinking companion uncomfortable. "And I appreciate that non-judgmental sentiment, you know. There aren't many places where a Vashoth or a mage can find that, let alone both. It hasn't been completely issue-free, but I've no reason to regret staying here."