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

Anders

[pinprick]

He and Bethany have spoken with the other Wardens and Nathaniel is out hunting for a shaving kit. His beard is a couple of inches long now, and has served its purpose. He's asking around the tents when someone catches his eye. Blond, scrawny, and...Anders. It's Anders. Anders has joined the Inquisition.

Well, Nathaniel knows the Champion of Kirkwall let him go, but he didn't think Anders would find this much acceptance among the public. Last he heard, even the mage rebellion didn't want him around. Is he hiding? Is Justice still possessing him? The longer he thinks, the longer he frowns. Squinting, like a hawk who spies a snake in the grass. He closes the distance between them, reaching for a pointy elbow to tug him toward a more concealed area.

"Walk with me."

[justice_is_blond]

As many times as he's escaped, Anders has never been good at eluding pursuit or capture. He has a split second where he realizes someone's there before he's grabbed, and it's only the fact that both spirit and man recognize the voice that keeps him from setting his captor on fire.

"Really? Just grab me? Howe unoriginal." He keeps his voice low, but he's stressed. Very stressed. It's been so long, and Nate hadn't exactly been close to Justice, and what if this is it? The end? Justice is ready to fight, but Anders isn't. There are precious few people he likes that he hasn't hurt, and he's not ready to take Nate's name off that list.

"Needed to get your hands on me again that badly? There's always asking. Asking is nice. I like when people ask." His voice is far more nervous than teasing, and Nate can likely feel the tension in Anders' body from where he holds the mage.

[pinprick]

Anders always talked circles into spirals any time he was uncomfortable. He wielded wit and flirtation like he was juggling daggers, entertaining with his chosen weapons. He's feeling anxious and defensive. But Nathaniel doesn't intend to hurt him. If the Inquisition knows Anders is here, there's no vigilance Nathaniel has to offer that will be better than what's already in place. If Anders has kept himself secret...Nathaniel isn't sure what he'll do then, actually. That's what this is about.

He takes him into one of those doors that seems to lead nowhere. It leads to a long, dark hallway with a door at one end. Very little echo, thick walls, an excellent chance they won't be heard. Nathaniel releases Anders and folds his arms.

"Is he here with you?"

Great Hall

[aintwejust]

"Well, if it innit that Who fella." Mal is pretty sure it's who. Or why. Or wyatt? He can't rightly keep track of all these grim faced sorts in the griffon armor he wandered past while mak'n his living. Still he knows that nose and that smoke; ain't many of one or the other, let alone both. "What's got you wander'n up this far into the cold and weird?"

[justice_is_blond]

He gives Nathaniel an absolutely bewildered look.

"He? He who? I don't--" And then he does know who the archer meant. Right. Of course. Anders looks down. "Yes. It's not exactly like he's got anywhere else to go. Or like we even know how to get him elsewhere if we could find somewhere." People don't un-abominate. At least, they don't as far as he knows, and he's been trying very hard to find anything that says otherwise.

"The beard doesn't suit you, by the way." There is nothing about being caught in a room off to the side that makes Anders comfortable, but at least Nate hasn't gone for any sort of attack yet. Maybe he won't. Maybe they're just talking and Anders can stop being so nervous.

[pinprick]

Nathaniel gives an easy smile and straightens in his chair, setting his feet on the floor.

"It's Howe," he reminds him with a faint twitch. "Warden business. It's nice to be somewhere warm and dry. You're..." He points in the air with the end of his pipe, like he's trying to put his finger on the name. "...Reynolds. Found work with the Inquisition?"

[pinprick]

Nathaniel blinks in surprise, then exhales, releasing some tension with the breath. We, he said.

"Does the Inquisition know?" A beat. "About Justice. The beard is self-evident."

He scratches it self-consciously.

[aintwejust]

"Nah, pretty sure it's a what." Referr'n to the whine and press of Jayne against his leg. "And what it is seems t'be a singularly vex'n hound."

One angling for food or whatever Nate has in his pipe. "More or less. Apparently if you got a bit'a shiny green stuck in you what shouldn't be- this is where you go. Now when you say 'Warden Business' d'ya mean the grim and wander'n kind or the 'oh shit we better get prepped for ogres' kind?"

[pinprick]

"I couldn't tell you." Nathaniel rifles in a bag and pulls out a bit of jerky for Jayne. Passes it over and scratches the back of his neck. "Shiny bit of green? You have me at a disadvantage."

[aintwejust]

"At least that much is the same." So much strangeness wander'n about the world and people react'n or not react'n? It's nice that Wardens are still secretive sons of bitches. Makes Mal feel a little more settled in the world. Jayne's made happy by the jerky, taking it out of Nate's hand with a lick and a butt of his face against his side.

"You see the sky light up like crazy awhile back- little float'n tears here and there? Apparently they spit out little shard things. Get stuck with one and you got a very fine read'n light." Mal shrugs and peels off his glove, holding up his hand and the glowing, green mark on his palm.

courtyard

[motherfucking_ghost]

"Uh, you're not keeping that, are you?" That's Church, making a motion to his bearded chin (and it's been growing, and maybe he should take care of that--scruff is hot, fluff is not). "Like, you're cutting the rest off, right? Not like...keeping the bit under your lip...right...?"

Great Hall

[unbrokenoath]

They'd already gotten to meet when Nathaniel first arrived to Skyhold and an unofficial Warden meeting was held. But that was Warden business, not personal chat time. So when she sees him looking fairly relaxed and open to conversation, she strides on over, grabbing a chair and pulling it over so she can sit next to him. For a few moments, she debates being obnoxious and throwing her feet over his legs, but ultimately decides to save obnoxiousness for later.

Not when she's only just learned that he's still alive.

"Have you heard from your sister and nephew?" It was easier to start off with small talk, family things. "He'd be about--Ten years old, now?"

[pinprick]

"Something the matter?" Nathaniel carefully shaves around the little patch before touching up one cheek. "Or do you commonly critique how a stranger shaves himself?"

[pinprick]

Oh excellent, she's sparing a tired man the obnoxiousness. He gives her a smile.

"He is. Thank you for remembering. They're both safe, thank the Maker."

[pinprick]

"Does that make you the new Herald of Andraste? Maker." Nathaniel is not serious about that first, but he's hardly reveling in his own joke, sitting up to squint at the shard. "That's peculiar. When did this happen?"

[aintwejust]

"Shit, I hope not. Wouldn't do to have someone who thinks that's all a load a'bullshit to be runn'n this place." He snorts a soft laugh, flexing his hand. It stings sometimes, flares up something awful others but- he's gett'n it sorted. Keep away from the rifts and it don't bother him none. "Little ways back- pick'n a girl up for her family up near Haven. Sky goes crazy, horse spooks, I get knocked on the head fall'n off try'n to keep her from break'n her neck and I wake up with this thing in my hand."

[pinprick]

"That's...unfortunate." Though Nathaniel has seen weirder things. Sometimes he feels compelled to react more strongly to weird things than comes naturally, just so people know he acknowledges the weirdness. Like when his nephew gets some minor scrape and runs to Nathaniel for sympathetic noises. But Reynolds doesn't expect that kind of thing. "Does it hurt?"

[aintwejust]

"Had worse." He shrugs. He had. Pulls his glove back on so the glow'n wouldn't catch undue notice- folk not from 'round here get squinted at. Folk from 'round here that have 'em? Get squinted at a might harder. "You meet up with your friends just yet? Coupla weasly Wardens skulk'n about."

[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."

[justice_is_blond]

The beard is self-evident. Anders isn't surprised by that. He is surprised, though, by the actual question.

"Yes, of course. I walked through the gates and announced I was possessed, and they held a parade. No, they don't know. They wouldn't understand. I'd be dead faster than someone can say 'abomination.' Or 'blue.' They don't know anything. I've grown fond of breathing and I'd like to keep doing that. You might say it's become a hobby." How would anyone even start to accept that they had an abomination walking around? No. Only those that knew him as him also knew what he was. ...Except for Adelaide, but that's complicated.

[pinprick]

"There's a third option, you know." Nathaniel hesitates to explain magic to a mage, but people seem to willfully forget said third option when Anders comes up, or at least fail to explain its lack of feasibility to Nathaniel. "Same way Eamon's boy Connor was saved. Or is there a special reason that can't be done now?"

[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."

[justice_is_blond]

Anders takes a shaky breath.

"Connor was saved when they killed what possessed him." Just as Feynriel was saved when they'd killed the demons plaguing him. "He saved our lives, Nate. He fought alongside us. We can't simply murder him so that I can be free of what I agreed to. I can't. I won't."

It's not exactly like he has a choice in the matter - it wouldn't be him fighting in the Fade should people make that attempt - but it's something Anders can't stand to have happen. He wants to not be possessed any longer, but killing Justice to do it doesn't seem fair to the Spirit. Unsurprisingly, Justice agrees.

[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.