we laid our names to rest along the dotted line

[lacere]

WHO: Lead Scout Lace Harding and YOU.
WHAT: Things that are happening with Lace and you in Guardian
WHEN: Latter half of Guardian
WHERE: Emprise du Lion or Skyhold
NOTES: There are things that are happening!! I'm writing starters for interested parties, or if you wanna do a thing, go ahead and start something yourself. If you wanna discuss you can catch me on plurk over here.

Comments

Shale - Skyhold

[lacere]

Harding's knowledge of one of Skyhold's more recent additions was limited, but constant, thanks to the mounting number of reports she received that started with 'the golem'. In the span of a week she had received five different accounts of how all birdkind had been threatened and how they, noblekind and anyone-whom-was-in-the-general-vicinity kind felt a vague notion of the same thanks to the staring and the sarcasm.

Really, enough was enough. It was high time she meet this golem. There were far better uses to their time than becoming a menace to local birds.

The golem was, well, not difficult to find, exactly where Harding expected to see them in the courtyard (it was not like they could go anywhere, and there was another array of reports dedicated to the fact they kept trying). She approaches directly, not fazed in the slightest, because when you're a dwarf, everything is larger than you. Plus she's not a bird, so there's no chance of becoming paste, realistically speaking.

"Lead Scout Harding," she introduces, rattling off the title as any soldier would. "I'm here to-" Well. Hm. First thing's first. "What should I call you? The scouts neglected to find that part out."

[dwarfing]

The massive golem turns when the dwarf approaches, and there's an odd quirk of their brow as Harding introduces herself politely. Lead Scout? What did a lead scout want with Shale?

"It is here to what? Ask me to move? I have moved many times," the golem says with a grumble. "It should learn to go around me." They weren't in the best of moods, it seemed, but Harding was in no danger of becoming a wet smear on the ground. It just meant that Shale was a little less interested in giving a damn.

"I am Shale. Its scouts should ask, next time."

[lacere]

Being large and imposing, Harding figured, was likely not doing much in Shale's favour. She halts mid-step, reconsidering her non-fazed outlook, because Shale is far larger than she expected. But, no. Still not fazed.

"They should," Harding agrees, loudly, for the benefit of those of them that are listening in to this conversation. She sighs, a short exhale of breath. "It's not so much about moving, Shale. You are entitled to go where you want as you please." She pauses. Going outside of the Courtyard was hardly an option, given that there was so much of Shale and the repairs just couldn't handle it. "The reports say a lot of different things. But I was more interested in what you wanted to do by being out here. The courtyard or otherwise."

[dwarfing]

The golem couldn't exactly move where they pleased, because this pathetic run-down place threatened to break under their feet everywhere they went. Shale didn't exactly enjoy the thought of being stuck somewhere halfway through a floor or a staircase. (Not to mention all the pissy people having to do repairs.)

The courtyard would do, but it was a little like being stuck in Honnleath. Shale was almost a little claustrophobic thanks to that. Going around Ferelden with the Warden had been much simpler.

"I am here to smash the sky-opener under my fists until it is paste," they say almost nonchalantly. "I have already fought an archdemon once. It was fun."

[lacere]

That's a goal she can't say anything against. Even if her plans against Corypheus are either to shoot as many arrows at him as necessary or dismantle his empire beneath his feet, whichever came first, rather than using her fists. A golem's fists, though? Makes sense.

"An archdemon, huh," Harding echoes. The one at Haven? Or one from a Blight? It seemed... insensitive... to ask for the specifics of that one, if not for the insult of the archdemon's intergrity, but to figure out... which Blight it was... in the first place. Golem's might have been created by dwarves, but it was all a little over her head, a little too much like magic.

But, it does imply strength. She hums, thoughtfully. "Hmm. What are your thoughts on bears, Shale? Or other larger animals?"

[dwarfing]

Who knows how many Blights Shale had lived through, lost in the Deep Roads? They sure as heck didn't know, and was happy to just have been through only one they remembered. The fighting had been fun, but the feelings less so.

"Yes. I did not kill it, but it was still fun. This time I want to punch it in the face and see if stone can crush dragon scales." One thing at a time. Then they would step on Corypheus repeatedly, wash themselves of the crazy shit and wander off again.

Not actively working towards that goal was the main frustration in their life right now.

"...bears? They are loud an annoying. Sometimes it takes two punches to kill them, so they're not as squishy as other creatures. Why does it ask?"

[lacere]

"I was thinking of offering you a job," Harding says openly, with a smile. Maybe it would save the courtyard and the bird population, or maybe it would just give Shale something to do than wind up in a half dozen reports a week. It was a better use of time than any, she figured. "Not just for bears or archdemons, but punching things in general. Scouts are, by nature, stealthy; punching isn't something we're very good at when we get caught out. And sometimes there's a problem, and you just need..." need a golem to hit it? "... the element of surprise on your side. Or a golem."

[dwarfing]

"A job," Shale repeats, watching the dwarf intently. It wasn't something the golem had quite expected, but now they were definitely curious. It sounded like she wanted Shale to be a scout bodyguard... which they could deal with it it meant getting out of this damn courtyard for once.

"I do not sneak well, but an element of surprise? I definitely am."