theonly: (Default)
sᴛᴀɴɴɪs ʙᴀʀᴀᴛʜᴇᴏɴ ([personal profile] theonly) wrote in [community profile] faderift2015-10-22 06:32 pm

[OPEN]

WHO: Stannis Baratheon and OPEN.
WHAT: A Knight-Commander wandering and glaring at various things.
WHEN: Two weeks after arriving to Skyhold.
WHERE: Skyhold, various.
NOTES: None.




A - STABLES

He stood in the stables. Stannis thought that he should leave, that he should abandon these fools to whatever horrors should come for them. But he gave his word; he offered his sword. A Templar does not abandon their post regardless of what sense says they should do. He lifted his hand to lightly pat the side of the stallion's neck. Beyond his sword and armor, the horse was one of the few possessions that he had left. If worse came to worse, he planned to let it run free from Skyhold. It was not bound to his duty and word, so why not let it live?

"I continue to be tested and wonder if deities do exist if only to torment." Stannis let his hand drop away as he started to move out of the stables. "And yet, it is I who find them wanting. Such is the way of Gods and me."

B - LIBRARY

A raven had been found to send message to the few that owed him favors. He sought to find where his daughter had disappeared. How could she had just vanish? Or was it that she just joined the list of the unnamed dead? A sobering thought, but he would continue to search for word, for rumor of what had become of her. Until it became too much to do so.

His steps fell heavy as he walked down to head toward the courtyard. He only stopped briefly in the library to see how the process of categorizing the ancient texts was going. Stannis skimmed over the books on the tables and wondered of what would be written about their present tribulations. Would the writers fill the pages with fluff and prose to hide the terror of what really occurred? Most likely. Who would want to hear the truth when a story was better?

A pause.

"Hard in Hardtown." He read the book title aloud as he picked it up where it laid. Turning it over, he knew not the reason but frowned at the smug illustrated look of the author. Still, the novel appeared to be new due to the lack of dust for one, and the name of the author for another. Someone brought this in? Apparently they believed we are missing some piece of literature. A beat in his thoughts. Should have brought the story of Hawke.

C - BATTLEMENTS

Stannis had grown accustomed to walking the battlements. He would watch the courtyard and it emptied and eventually turn his gaze towards the horizon. Like he expected the enemy's army's torches to suddenly appear, cutting through the black. Yet nothing came. Perhaps, Corypheus believes us to not be a thread now that the Herald is dead. But if I were him, I would tear this fortress down before my enemies had the chance to rebuild, before they grew enough nerve to strike. It may be a good thing that he did not become a Red Templar, did not listen to the siren call of the tainted.

He rested against the waist-high stone wall, crossing his arms. There were enough guards to do what he was doing -- or so he had been told once or twice. Turning to rest his arms on the stone, he lifted his hands to interlace his fingers. "Oh Maker, hear my cry: guide me through the blackest night. Steel my heart against the temptations of the wicked. Make me rest in the warmest of places." These words were spoken, not sung. Stannis let his hands drop.

"As I thought." A pause. "Everyone believed in you, and you continue to let them down. They continue to pray like you care." A God that allowed what has happen to happen was no God. "Perhaps, we should take a page from Tevinter, after all. We should cease believing in Gods that do nothing for us. Perhaps, we would be able to do more if we were not always on our knees."

D

Wildcard.

liberalum: (#9565433)

library.

[personal profile] liberalum 2015-10-23 12:16 pm (UTC)(link)
[ People come and go, touching books, maybe putting them back where they're meant to go. Dorian is slowly getting used to ignoring them, or rather-- not ignoring so much as accepting these new constants as normal, even acceptable ambience, as he makes the library his second home. The creaking of wooden staircase and floorboards, the whispers of conversation floating up from the rotunda, and the abominable squawking of ravens above.

Okay, so. He will probably not let that one go readily.

He glances up from where he is inspecting books stacked along some shelving at the mention of Varric's recent literary venture, attention then fixed when he sees the fairly recognisable figure of Stannis Baratheon crowding in the cramped confines of the library. Dorian's fingers tap the spines of the books being perused, before breaking away at a wander. ]


Varric's infamous penny dreadful, [ he explains, by way of approach. His voice fills the room and the metallic details of his light-weight armor seem to reflect light that isn't present. His hands dance about him in expressive gesture. ] The man probably slipped it in amongst the catalogue himself, Maker knows.

In search of some light reading, Knight-Commander?
liberalum: (#9660478)

[personal profile] liberalum 2015-10-24 03:04 am (UTC)(link)
[ Well. No one can say Dorian didn't try to be immediately helpful.

It certainly sounded like it, on paper, even if it had the effect of poking the bear awake. He smiles at Stannis, even if the sparkle in his eye takes on a specifically cool sheen, his arms folding across his chest. His tone continues to brim with saccharine indulgence. ]


Why, there's still so much left to do, Knight-Commander. Rifts to close, elfroot to gather, ancient tomes to put into alphabetical order--

And whyever would I avoid you? You seem so friendly.
liberalum: (#9595195)

[personal profile] liberalum 2015-10-24 03:42 am (UTC)(link)
Unlike you, Ser Stannis, who sees no reason to be charming at all.

[ He could, of course, throw himself at the man's feet, make grand claims as to his good intentions to better assuage the Templar's suspicions, pledge his allegiance to good and defeating Corypheus once and for all--

--it isn't exactly his style. ]


And I know a Templar is a Templar. Where I'm from, they haven't the privilege of intimidating mages, and though my awe cannot be overstated when it comes to your expertise in all things reptilian, allow me to put it on record that you do not frighten me.

You'll simply have to find another avenue of discourse, I'm afraid, for as long as I remain. And I intend to, you know.
liberalum: (#9660469)

[personal profile] liberalum 2015-10-24 09:54 am (UTC)(link)
And deny you the chance of mounting me above your hearth? I'd make for such lovely decoration.

[ Dorian's stare is bright and clear, his temper more the clean flash of electricity he so favours in contrast to Stannis's more smouldery anger simmering away behind his face. Dorian looks the rough southern man up and down just once, in a split-second flick of eyeline.

The curl of mustache twitches along with a more crooked smile. ]


But you've yet to disabuse me of the notion that you're more than a blunt instrument. Who wields you, I wonder? The Order failed, the Circles collapsed, and here you are, swinging about for something to strike. If I'm such a danger, why wait?
equanimiti: (☾A stoic rememberance ☽)

Battlements

[personal profile] equanimiti 2015-10-24 04:54 pm (UTC)(link)
Mayhaps we should.

[A familiar voice calls out.]

Always wandering and always drifting, these deities we pray to seem not to care for mortal affairs but why should they? The divine are forever and as eternal as the skies above. Of course they won't heed our cries for salvation but they do listen, and listen they do best.

[Standing on the opposite end of the battlement is none other than Sauveterre gazing out into the endless abyss. He's been there for awhile within the shadows lost in thought. The Orlesian hadn't stirred a bit since Stannis wandered up here and kept to his silence until now. He had watched that entire act from beginning to end with an impassive grey stare.]
ancarrow: (011)

stables

[personal profile] ancarrow 2015-10-24 08:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Eirlys has been spending quite a lot of time in the stables. She finds the horses calming, even if she feels a little jealous that they are somewhat oblivious to the world potentially ending, thinking of nothing more than the hay they're chewing on.

When she realises that she's not alone - and that her companion is a human and a Templar - she jolts back to the larger reality of the Inquisition from the walls she's begun to draw up for herself in the quiet of the stables, and the brush she was using to groom a cream coloured mare she's taken a shine to clatters sharply to the floor.

"I'm sorry, I didn't--" she manages to stammer out. "I'll leave you be, ser."
equanimiti: (☾You speak too freely!☽)

[personal profile] equanimiti 2015-10-25 01:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Mayhaps but shall you judge them?

[If Stannis's hearing is keen enough to pick up on the slight raw edge of Sauveterre's voice, then might be able to hear the cold within his tone. Alayre shan't admit but he's quite unwell thanks to two weeks of vigorous work and helping those lost within the bitter cold. The man's clearly sick but won't rest.]

You intrude upon nothing, Knight-Commander. [He answers as he glances back towards the far horizon.]

Truly, you needn't worry.
equanimiti: (☾The Magisterial ☽)

[personal profile] equanimiti 2015-10-26 02:44 am (UTC)(link)
Allow the Divine to judge in silence and simply work on the betterment of thyself.

[The younger of the two answers after a nagging cough kept his silent. Despite not seeming to heed Stannis's previous concerns, Alayre honestly listened to every word until having to hunt through the frigid landscape for a lost child. Since the ordeals of that day, he's been quite ill. He hid it rather well but he cannot ever seem to pull the wool over his fellow Templar.]

The same could said for you, Baratheon. You are known to disservice yourself physically and mentally at times. I've watched you battle against sleep before and this is no different.

[He let's out a quiet sigh as he rubs his throat. It aches terribly thanks to that cough earlier]

Though, I shan't argue with you when you're in the right. That would be in poor taste.
equanimiti: (☾You speak too freely!☽)

[personal profile] equanimiti 2015-10-26 04:53 am (UTC)(link)
[If Hell itself froze over just now, it might be from the withering stare Alayre gave the Baratheon for that last comment. It takes much to win his frustration but Stannis as won it fair and square this evening. Sauveterre eyes the other with a dry laugh.]

How lofty is that arrogrance of yours, Baratheon, to believe yourself to be so self-assured? Not every grunt you groan out rings true or is even remotely interesting. Conversations with you as of late are as pleasant as the Blight itself.

[He scoffs in return and glances away quickly with a huff. For anyone watching, they would assume these two be anything other than comrades. They act note like rivals half the time. It's oddly assuming.]

Such an unpleasant old goat you've become. No wonder your hair has become as thin as straw.
equanimiti: (☾A pensive interlude☽)

[personal profile] equanimiti 2015-10-26 05:53 am (UTC)(link)
[When the other Templar's reply isn't a scathing rebuttal, Alayre glances towards him again.]

Do you fear that Death will soon claim me far before we see the end of our trials, Stannis? If so, fear not.

[He replies quietly without any hint of his previous fury. Though, he falls silent for a spell before speaking again.]

I will see this to the bitter end. It must be us to rebuild what was broken by the hands of others. We must endure and return order from chaos.
Edited 2015-10-26 05:54 (UTC)
liberalum: (#9660480)

[personal profile] liberalum 2015-10-26 11:00 am (UTC)(link)
Well. It's certainly feeling poorly, at the very least.

[ Dorian raises one articulate eyebrow, subtle, at Stannis' reframing as to his claims. His arms remain rigid and folded, betraying tension, but his expression is well schooled. ]

Guilty, do you think. Pray, what laws are you referring to that I ought be tried? Unless there are stringent rules around maintaining a certain level of 'dour arsehole' at all times of which I was not previously aware, in which case, you could offer me pointers.
ancarrow: (009)

[personal profile] ancarrow 2015-10-27 06:30 pm (UTC)(link)
She hesitates before reaching over and taking the brush from him, her cheeks flushing and her eyes not quite meeting his. Something in her seems to steel at his words though, knowing that she should have pride in herself and to think of herself as equal to anyone here, even if it was difficult to do that in practice.

"...Thank you. It's taking some getting used to remembering that."
ungovernable: (006)

[personal profile] ungovernable 2015-10-28 02:13 am (UTC)(link)
( benevenuta's measured steps are not an unfamiliar sound - not in this library, and not to either of the men currently at a stand-off. perhaps less familiar: the moment where she catches sight of what's going on, lifts her skirts in her small fists to keep them out of her way as she hastens across the room to insinuate herself between them before escalation can go any further. )

Gentlemen,

( reprovingly, casting a look between the two of them and presuming no intimate friendship with either of them, )

Is this something that must be done here? You are drawing attention to yourselves.
ancarrow: (004)

[personal profile] ancarrow 2015-10-28 06:07 pm (UTC)(link)
"Would that we had men like you in Gwaren, ser." Eirlys preferred softer methods whenever possible, but sometimes people needed a hammer coming down to get the message.

She's unused to a human offering to defend her, especially without expecting something sordid in return, and feels an odd mix of gratitude and morbid curiosity.

"But you didn't come out here to remind me to keep my head held high. Might I ask what's troubling you?"
liberalum: (#9606630)

[personal profile] liberalum 2015-10-30 10:13 am (UTC)(link)
[ It's good timing. There's enough bully in Dorian's character to recognise the defensiveness setting like cement in Stannis' posture, and though there's enough sense in him not to push that to a point of breaking -- for his sake, for the sake of mages, the Inquisition as a whole -- there is the desire to push back verbally at least, more so than he is tempted to correct him. It feels too much like submission, to appear to care what the Southerner thought of him.

And he isn't backing up, as the larger man crowds him. Larger men often do.

Still, Dorian doesn't appear especially glad to see her when Benevenuta happens and points out the obvious. He breaks his stare off Stannis to look at her, his expression neutral, but some tension easing out of his posture as he drops his arms to his sides. ]


Ah, here we are, [ he says, grandly. ] Pretty as a picture and so much more manageable, these Circle girls. Positively guiltless in every way. Shall I allow you two the floor, to better bask in each other's amiability?
Edited 2015-10-30 10:14 (UTC)
ungovernable: (003)

[personal profile] ungovernable 2015-11-01 12:45 am (UTC)(link)
( benevenuta's brows draw together, a bit, at these circle girls, but she doesn't overplay her indignance, and therefore overplay her hand - she lets her lips tighten, too, and says, )

Good,

( in what skirts the border between her sometime-pertness and her usual-diplomacy, conscious of the way stannis keeps dorian in his eyeline, keeping herself at a precise distance between the both of them and setting a hand on each puffed up masculine chest before giving equally small pushes.

she is not particularly imposing, physically, but it's the I'm certainly not having this here sentiment that matters, not any real expectation that she can move them if they don't wish to be moved by her.

without resorting to magical means that will really not help. )


Then I think we are all quite done. Yes?

( her firm look travels, unchanging, over both men. )
liberalum: (#9685627)

[personal profile] liberalum 2015-11-01 11:00 am (UTC)(link)
[ Ah yes, here we are, familiar ground. Accusations of filth and corruption and dirt despite the fact that Dorian considers himself the most immaculately groomed man on this mountain. It's enough to make him homesick.

These are the sorts of sarcastic thoughts he nurses so he avoids attempting to shove Stannis over the railing.

Not truly a possibility, just a wishful fantasy, killed all the more with Benevenuta's diplomatic hand on his chest. Dorian allows it to trigger his step back. ]


I suspect we are, as the Knight-Commander will have to knock me unconscious and tie me to a pack mule to remove me from the premises, and the leadership wouldn't take too kindly to that.

[ And he moves on by them with an invasive brushing of shoulders, and past the table Stannis had been standing over. There is the sound of a scrape of book against wood as he takes Hard in Hightown with him with a slightly snatching, irritated swipe. ]

Good day.
Edited 2015-11-01 11:02 (UTC)
ungovernable: (004)

[personal profile] ungovernable 2015-11-02 01:12 am (UTC)(link)
( benevenuta thinks better of remarking upon her mother's tevinter origins - no, that isn't quite true. benevenuta does not consider remarking upon her mother's tevinter origins, entirely likely as it is to shift stannis' opinion of her rather than of dorian pavus. she sighs, a pensive expression settling in her sharp features as she watches the path dorian took a moment longer. )

I think it better to know what a man does than be surprised by it, later, ( she settles on, letting a slight frown linger. )

But I take no step in Skyhold without care, Knight-Commander, I promise you.

( and that is, one incident of drinking a guard under the table and requiring a safe escort back to her favourite part of the library to sleep it off firmly aside, the absolute truth. )
Edited 2015-11-02 01:13 (UTC)
ungovernable: (009)

[personal profile] ungovernable 2015-11-02 01:57 am (UTC)(link)
( she bites back what she might've said to anyone else - that it is good of him to think of her; he never cares to have these things observed aloud, objects even to calling them observations - and with her hands clasped before her, considers what to say instead. )

Too much distance will assure nothing but surprise, if a strike should come,

( she settles on. she doesn't wish for him to feel as if she's dismissing what he says - and it isn't as if she hasn't weighed the wisdom of such a friendship in conjunction with the position she means to occupy here and the way she intends to go about it, how it might put her in positions precisely like this one.

although, she would not have predicted this conversation going quite like this, and that is very interesting. dismissal she was prepared for; his concern is something else again and when she glances up at him, sidelong, it is a girlishness that lacks the appearance of artifice. )


If he is to be here, my lord, there must be someone to whom he speaks.

( why not her? )
ungovernable: (004)

[personal profile] ungovernable 2015-11-02 02:49 am (UTC)(link)
( in the face of that sternness, benevenuta is demurely steadfast in the way that stannis is likely coming to be familiar with - she listens when he speaks (when most people speak to her, in point of fact), but when her mind is made up, she is serenely certain of herself in a way that's difficult to touch.

it is rare for her to question herself. it is rarer still for her to let anyone else prompt her to do so - but, equally, there is no heated defiance to her, no inclination to spite him with her certainty. she knows her own mind, and does him the courtesy of believing that it is enough. )


I believe that the work he has done here is worth taking the time to learn about. I did not come all this way to shut myself up in a tower afraid of shadows.

( there is no edge to her tone; a firmness, yes, but she separates disagreement from argument and will not be drawn unwillingly into the latter. )
ungovernable: (009)

[personal profile] ungovernable 2015-11-02 03:56 am (UTC)(link)
I know what I do, my lord, ( a bit more easily, now that it's clear he's not going to push her harder than that on the subject - she doesn't smile, quite, but she is satisfied for now and her satisfaction is the same sedate thing as her patient, persistent determination that they should be better acquainted.

she is fond of him, inexplicably, and she is gracious when she gets her way. )


Did you need something here in the library? I have completed the inventory - I know it well.

( and that's that. )
ungovernable: (Default)

[personal profile] ungovernable 2015-11-02 05:34 am (UTC)(link)
Tale of the Champion, ( thoughtfully - she begins to move into the shelves, recalling where she'd seen that title. they have it, she is certain.

as for varric, )


Varric Tethras? It is fiction, I believe - I cannot say I've read the work myself to judge. I have done little reading for pleasure, here.

( a bit wryly. )