[open] I'll return one day

[thereneverwas]

WHO: Barrow + you
WHAT: catch-all
WHEN: post lyrium detox
WHERE: mostly the Gallows and surrounding areas
NOTES: open starters are in the post body and bespoke ones are in the comments, hmu if you want one, etc

out & about, OTA

One could be forgiven for thinking nothing has changed. Not long after his time in the infirmary ended, Barrow had made his return to the training yard in the mornings: he busies himself there, offering training and maintaining the weapons and being something adjacent to his usual self. The distance is, however, noticeable at times, when his banter is a bit delayed. Or maybe his smile doesn't meet his eyes, or he stares out at the horizon for a little too long in the middle of a drill.

Nearly every evening now he's in the Loose Noose, nursing an ale for hours as though he's periodically forgotten about it. When once he might have played solitaire, lately he just sits and stares at nothing. Sometimes he smokes, letting the cigarette burn all the way down to his lips before he thinks to ash it.

infirmary, OTA

There's work to be done in the wake of his time in the infirmary, and Barrow finally dredges up the courage to address it. He arrives one day with his toolbox and, without offering much conversation, proceeds to go about mending... everything. He starts with the worst of it: the door to the private room, the bed that took the brunt of his and Lazar's altercation, then makes his way down to smaller details, things he may have left unfinished in his initial restless busyness when he'd first gone off the lyrium.

If spoken to, he speaks, and is even friendly, but his overall bearing is awkward. Uncomfortable. Apologetic, if one squints. Maybe he shouldn't be here, but he wants to make it right.

Comments

for Sennara

[thereneverwas]

Whether it was on Byerly's advice or just a particularly bad day, Barrow resolved at some point hours ago to get falling down drunk. Circumspect enough to find a pub where he wasn't likely to run into any peers, and being large enough that most people have the good instinct not to bother him when he looks like this, he has only partially managed to fall down-- in this case, with his head buried in his arms on the table where he sits alone.
Why does this ever seem like a good idea? It's never a good idea. But here he is, all his limbs like lead, and he may as well enjoy how his mind has quieted for the time being.

training yard

[laruetheday]

The early morning is the perfect time to train, and Clarisse is there almost every day. Seeing Barrow return to his normal routine is good, but she doesn't comment on it. Clarisse hasn't brought up anything that happened in the infirmary at all, in fact. She'd like to keep it that way if possible. As far as she's concerned, it's water under the bridge.

She's there this morning training with her spear, and gives him a nod of acknowledgement when she sees him organizing the weapons.

"Do me a favor?"

loose noose.

[cozen]

Bastien arrives a good hour after he spotted Barrow disappearing into the tavern — he had some things to finish up — and unsurprised to find him there still. Bastien has never been much of a drinker; all but entirely giving it up for Byerly was no hardship. But he drops a coin into the collection and pours himself a tankard anyway, for sociability's sake, before he crosses to Barrow's corner.

"Barrow," in greeting.

He takes a seat, not at Barrow's table, but on top of the table adjacent to it, feet on the chair and mug on his knees. He's less animated than he often is. His attention is steadier. He is doing little to disguise the fact that he's here to be serious,

eventually.

"I witnessed a murder today," he offers first, because they don't have to leap directly into it.

training yard

[brennvin]

It’s not like they’ve really spoken in detail about what he was in the infirmary for — to the contrary, he had been adamant about keeping friends away — but you don’t have to be a genius to realise that something feels off, afterward.

Barrow’s back but he’s not really back. He seems distant and distracted, not really here. He barely even notices when Astrid’s next to him in the yard until she elbows him in the side, sharp.

“You wanna help me practice something cool?” she asks, readjusting the enchanted gauntlet on her left wrist.

infirmary

[armd]

"Need a hand?"

She understands why he's here, and that he probably wants to do all the chores himself and self flagellate the entire time but facts are facts: many hands make light work. Plus he owes Abby, in a way. To try and put a stop to any protests before they start she adds, "C'mon. Sooner it's done sooner you're out of Strange's hair."