faderift | Put on your gloves and your black pumps

WHO: Warden Kaisan Daesun and YOU
WHAT: Another Warden arrives and is very noisy about it.
WHEN: Current
WHERE: Places around Skyhold
NOTES: Some mild swearing probably.

The Gate

She'd been hoping that Skyhold had those huge wooden doors some fortresses had, so she could shove them open dramatically and cruise in while everyone was staring. Now, that would be pretty damn awesome. Unfortunately, Skyhold had the extremely practical iron metal gate, that you couldn't throw open dramatically. What's worse, is that before she even got close, she was greeted by scouts who politely tried to figure out why there was a tall armed woman stalking up the path to Skyhold. Exasperated as she was, she told them who she was, and gave them a list of names of Wardens who would verify her identity. Being dragged in by some very angry scouts would be indeed dramatic, but Kaisa was not in the mood to provoke quite that feeling on her entrance.

Still, Kaisa was a Warden, and she was used to working with limited resources. So she buckled up, straighted her back, and after speaking to the scouts, strode up through the gate of Skyhold, with as much swagger and confidence as if she were a reigning monarch stepping into her personal hold. She made sure that her strides were long enough that she was in front of the scouts who had come to question her. After all, this was her introduction to Skyhold, it was far more appropriate for her to be first. Her hound trailed after her, marring the cool, collected look just slightly, as he sniffed around, wagging his little stub of a tail like mad.

Once inside, she paused, hands on her hips, looking around at the courtyard, yellow eyes sharp and scrutinizing. The scouts had already dissipated, off to update necessary people that another Warden had arrived. Yes, while this wasn't quite the entrance that she had favored, she had done a good job. Now she just had to stand there looking cool and intimidating and everything.

The dog, meanwhile, flopped down, and had to be stepped around by the Warden, lest he drool on her boots.

The Herald's Rest

Well, at least this door was closed. It wasn't quite as cool as the door to a fortress, but you couldn't be picky. So, once again, she straightened up and put a knowing little smile on her face, then proceeded to throw open the door. Yes.

For a few moments, she stood there, standing in the doorway, looking around the tavern. Then she turned on her heel, swaggering on over to the bar and plopping down, grinning at the bartender (who didn't look nearly as amused as he ought to, really). She placed her order and sat back against the bar, eyeing the tavern. In her opinion, gathering spots like this were vital to picking up the atmosphere of the place, and even if she hadn't managed to impress a bunch of people and look really cool, at the least, she could try to get a feel for just what kind of place this Inquisition was.

If she was going to be working with them until this whole Warden mess got sorted out, it would be important to know how the people here felt.

Battlements

No need for cool entrances at this point. Having settled in for the long haul, Kaisa decided to take in Skyhold as a whole, and leisurely made her way around the battlements. Every so often she'd stop, observing the comings and goings within the hold, or eyeballing the mountains outside of it. She wasn't much for grand plans and strategies of large battles, so she couldn't make any expert assessment on Skyhold's fortifications. But she knew enough, she was pretty sure. At the least, she'd been to enough fortresses that she had some idea of what was a good one, and what wasn't.

Judging from what she's seen, and how long this has been standing, it strikes her as pretty good.

As she wanders, she hums to herself, mind not focused on who might be listening. Other Wardens might recognize the tune, but those who have never heard the Calling will only hear an eerie jingle, something unlike any music composed by a person.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Maraas-lok. I've heard of that stuff, never tried it. Probably for the best, the last thing I need is trying to fight darkspawn with a hangover." She paused, and glanced around, most likely to ensure that none of her senior Wardens could overhear her. "I mean, I've done it before, but it's not exactly fun, you know? They make these high pitched shrieks when they die, and it's just...ugh." She waved her hand around, though she broke off into giggles when Korrin revealed her devious plot.

"Oh? How well did that go? If you have any really good stories, you have to share them. I'll see if I can't think of some stories to share, too." Now, this was nice. She hasn't had a chance to just sit back, drink, and relax over stories in a while. It's all been the Calling and blood magic and being on the run. She should've came to Skyhold ages ago, if she'd known it could at least provide a safe place to relax.

Kaisa has nothing to fear from Korrin, at least when it comes to recycling Warden business. What is known to her is too depressing to dwell on, and she figures the Wardens do enough of that on their own, anyway. So she'll lean back and grin at provoking those giggles.

"Well, I couldn't exactly just pass it out down here, you know? Bad for business. But Cabot let me have the top floor for a modest fee and that's where I kept the hooch. I wasn't expecting everyone to hang around and drink it all there, but some did...and as it turns out, having drunks on a top floor is a terrible idea. I had to play babysitter to prevent some of them from toppling off the railing. One of the rifters, a soldier who can jump damned high, seemed dead-set on doing it. I gave him even more just to knock him out."

"A burned hand is the best teacher," Kaisa mused, rubbing her bottom lip with a mischievous smirk. "Although, I suppose doing a gravity check from the third floor is a bit of a hard lesson. Sounds like you got everyone handled and not dead, though. At least, if you did, all the blood's been washed out of the floor." She made a casual gesture to the tavern floor, where there were suspicious stains aplenty, but none that would indicate someone had taken a swan time.

"Maybe next time you try it out on solid ground. Or in a cage. Throw them in the dog cages, that'd be fun."

She snickered, then rubbed her lip again as she went back to thinking. "Hmm. Nothing really funny has been happening lately, I'm afraid. I spent about a month wandering around Fereldan after avoiding having someone try to turn my squishy parts in kindling for blood rituals, though. That was pretty interesting." Another wry laugh, though this one was a little more somber than before.

"Have you guys heard? I guess you will, eventually. Or was that supposed to be a secret. Shit." A small frown. "I hate having to remember what's a Warden Secret and what's not."

"That or we'll invade the barn. If people collapse there, at least they can do it on hay, right?" Hey, it's sound logic though Korrin will take suggestions if an even better place comes to mind. Either way, it's bound to happen again, sooner or later.

But she soon sobers at mention of what Kaisa's been through lately, her lips forming a thin line. "Well, a childhood friend in the Wardens already told me about the Calling and how it's affecting everyone. Though honestly, anyone sharing a tent with a Warden probably knows by now. I've had to house extra people in mine on assignments just so they could get some actual sleep."

"Invading the barn sounds like a good plan to me. Just make sure no one spooks the poor horses with their drunk nonsense." She snickers, shaking her head. "You'll invite me, right? I might try to stay sober just to people watch. Getting shit-faced is fun, but watching others get shit-faced? Even better."

She waves her hand airily as Korrin sobers, trying not to look too bothered. No need to get a bunch of people upset when there's nothing to be done about it. "Wardens aren't the best tentmates, no. I'm sorry about that. I do alright, Puppy's pretty clever at sensing when I'm about to start carrying on and wakes me up. About the only thing he's clever at, really." She says, with a smile, and affection in her voice. She loves that dumb mutt.

"But, hey, it's not all grim. We're all here. That's something." She takes a sip of her ale thoughtfully, and sets it down with shrug. "I am curious, though--Who's your friend in the Wardens? Maybe I know 'em."

"Sabriel Abhorsen; she's a mage from Nevarra. When we were kids, we traveled together for a while since my parents were guarding the caravan she was traveling with. I hadn't come into my magic just then, but I was fascinated by hers. And determined to get her to live a little." Or, you know, be a bad influence. "We parted ways, and I didn't see her again until reaching Skyhold. It was a nice surprise, after all this time."

And it reminds her that she hasn't had a good walk and talk with Sabriel lately. Perhaps it's time to fix that, the sooner the better. She doesn't want her friend to think that she's far too distracted to ever have time for her now.

"Sabriel--? I know her, yeah. She was one of the first ones to take off when things started getting messy." She nodded at the name, smiling. "She's new, but she's a good kid. I feel kind of bad for her, and the other newbies. And we've got a lot of newbies." She shakes her head, though there's still a fond smile on her face. "That's nice, though--I'm glad you guys were able to meet up again. She could use more friends around her than a bunch of old Wardens."

Because at 30, Kaisa is past the prime of her life. Or something.

"Did you get her to live a little? She didn't seem too uptight to me, but if you think she needs to relax a little more, I'm sure we can stick our heads together." She grinned wickedly, plots already beginning to drift into her evil little mind.

That grin provokes sharp laughter out of Korrin, and that sense of mischief is contagious. This will in no way end badly. "There hasn't been much opportunity, but you're absolutely right about her needing to relax. She's taken on even more responsibility, since she's with me on the mage council. I say we snag her together after one of those meetings, because if there's ever a time where stress-relief is needed, it's right then."

And it may be for herself as much as Sabrielf, since meetings tend to end with either a raging headache or lots of alcohol or both. It'd be nice to have something good to anticipate, after putting up with hours of political bullshit. Even the good days leave her with little patience at the end.

Put on your gloves and your black pumps

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