OPEN - Then the mountain rose before me

[pinprick]

WHO: Nathaniel Howe and YOU
WHAT: Nathaniel settles into Skyhold
WHEN: Current
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: Will update with any warnings that come up.

Courtyard

A dark-haired man in his late thirties or early forties is sitting on a camp stool and shaving, hair damp from a recent wash. He has a couple of inches of black beard he's mostly getting rid of, leaving only a soul patch under his lip. He works the brush while flinching at the cold and peering into a small mirror. The cold is not his friend when the razor comes out, either, but it's too dark inside for shaving. He manages the shave without cutting himself from shivering, at least. Come bother him.

Great Hall

Later, he's inside on a chair by the fire in the great hall, warming up. His feet are propped up on another chair. He's enjoying a lazy session of people-watching, smoking from a pipe and listening to a nearby psaltery player. If you catch his eyes on you, he will give a courteous nod and politely direct his gaze elsewhere. His posture is fairly open, so if you want to approach, he'll speak with you.

Tavern

It's after dark that he goes into the tavern and enjoys the smells and sounds, and occasional polite conversation. But it isn't terribly long before, lulled by warmth and safety, he cocoons himself in his cloak, rests his head against the wall, and falls soundly asleep. Until something wakes him up.

WILDCARD

Comments

[pinprick]

"That's just Kaisa, and she doesn't get less...Kaisa-ish." He puffs at his pipe a bit. "We've spoken with the other Wardens. Though I'd be wary of calling any of them friends, besides Bethany."

[aintwejust]

"Even the one with the nose?" He mimes at his face, that long Theirin thing that ain't all that Theirin. "And the smirk. Always smirk'n."

[pinprick]

"The one with the nose? Hopefully this Warden with a nose also has a name."

A beat.

"I'm pretty sure I'm the Warden with the nose, at any rate."

[aintwejust]

"The other one with the nose. Name'a....Lister? Lester? Alice? Somth'n like that." He'd heard of him, hadn't met him. "And a very fine nose it is, Warden Who."

Howe. Whichever.

[pinprick]

"I think you must deliberately forget names, lest we think you've become attached. Are you talking about Alistair? I could see him as 'the one with the smirk.'"

Frigging frustrating for not taking the throne when he could have, but Nathaniel knows there was more at play than Alistair's vote in the matter.

[aintwejust]

"Nah, I would never." He would always. Too many people he meets, keep'n track of them takes too much time and thought. Those he works with or around he remembers, those he does business with. The remarkable folk that he figures he might run into again. Tends to not be wardens- ain't a lot of them he runs into. "That's the one. Alistair."

[pinprick]

"Ah. No, not friends exactly. I've met him, though. Decent man."

[aintwejust]

"Seems like most a'you are with a few exceptions." Cousland. Loghain. He ain't name'n names though. "Well if you feel a need to borrow a mabari or need some work done, I'm about."

[pinprick]

Nathaniel bobs his head to that. "Same to you, Reynolds, sans the mabari. It's good to see you again."

[aintwejust]

"Same to you, Warden Who." See, he's got him a poetical soul. With a smile and a wave Mal wanders back on out, glad t'have at least one more sensible soul present.