faderift | (no subject)

WHO: Kain and OPEN!
WHAT: Riding, training, generalized brooding
WHEN: Now-ish, give or take? Or at least consider this taking place some while after he returned from the Erimond mission!
WHERE: Stables, Training Grounds, Library, Battlements... take your pick
NOTES: N/A

Stables and... Around (can be approached at any point!)

Seriously, though. Why horses? He's tried to tell himself they're no different than what he knows, but there are still differences from the chocobos that he's used to. Kain isn't entirely at ease around them just yet. So he's taken it in mind that he needs some riding practice.

He spends a little time thoughtfully eyeing the dracolisks that are there, he definitely has a curiosity about them given their appearance.

But for now, it's a standard horse. His style of riding was all learned on a bird so it's evident he doesn't quite know what he's doing as he rides a bit wildly around Skyhold.

Training Grounds

Pushing himself to get stronger is the only answer after what happened out the Western Approach. They'd met their main objective... but even still, Kain is beyond frustrated with himself, feeling a great deal of guilt over what happened. So, training. He gets to the grounds anyway, but even after he starts in with a jump, he lands and grimaces... Ugh, no, while it's improved for regular activity, his leg really isn't ready for anything like that. Whoops.

Library

Even after a good couple months here, Kain has realized he... still has a lot to learn about this world. Now is as good a time as any. So he's busy glancing through various books that catch his interest. Of course, it's noticeable that most of the titles in his stack are about dragons.

Tower/Battlements

By now, Kain has a usual spot he likes going to up along the battlements, a place with a great view of the mountains surrounding Skyhold. He often comes here to just think or get some solitude. At the moment, he's seated, staring off into the surroundings, a dragon scale in hand.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Life is for living so that's what Asher does each day; he goes out, he lives, and he lives well. Not to the standards of others or to their expectations but he does as he pleases and he's never gone to bed with regrets, not once, which is exactly how a man should live. He's never really understood why you'd brood on something unless you lost someone close to you, though he doesn't like to think about the last time he experienced that up close and personal, and it wasn't even his own then.

"You know that my life is more than that, it doesn't define you entirely. More of me is because I'm part-Avvar, believing in my grandfather's gods, because I've gone most everywhere a man can go in Thedas that isn't Tevinter, Seheron, or Par Vollen. I have people I love that love me back." If the message is getting through, he can't be sure because it came so naturally to him after he recovered from the blood that there must have been some potential just sitting there, waiting to be unleashed. But he needs to be sure that Kain really gets it because Asher is enough of a blood knight thanks to his temper and he'd rather not get in too deep with someone who might not be suited because not everyone is. "I fight, but then the rest of the time what you see is what you get.

"ButI don't think I'm going to dissuade you, and it's not that I'm trying, it's just that you will be different. We'll need to go elsewhere for it though, and that's before drinking the blood, there are too many folk in Skyhold proper or around the camps for me to show you what needs to be done. The last thing I need is some lad or lass trying it out and hurting themselves or someone else."

Kain has plenty of things to brood on, but he definitely won't get into great detail about them. He desperately needs to prove himself, though, to work past his failures. To say he's obsessed with the past is definitely putting it mildly.

"And I have no one. My blood family are gone, so is the one that raised me." Well, he's become the Eidolon Odin, but long story. "My friends back home have each other, and I know they'll move on. They'll be fine, whether or not I ever return someday. And I have no one here." Not to the extent he does back home or even in the gods' war. And even then... even then, back home they all had each other, Rosa had Cecil and he would forever be the third man out in that trio. Sure, he may care deeply about his friends and allies, moreso than he lets on, but when it comes down to it, he knows his life is the most expendable out of everyone's. It's just how it is. He's accepted it. "Anyway, I know that life is more than fighting, but to me, it's the only part that's ever been worth anything, the only way I can hope to prove myself... and move beyond the mistakes of my past. I need this."

Kain nods sternly. "I wouldn't be asking about it if I thought it was an easy or even pleasant path to walk. I'm prepared for it to change me." For the better, he thinks, although at the same time he knows it may feel awful at times before he truly masters it. He would never approach something like this without the utmost seriousness, it's something he'll continue to put thought into, to consider and ponder over. He doesn't make his choices lightly. "I understand it's not to be taken lightly... so leaving the area and maintaining secrecy is fine with me." Really, you can't go wrong entrusting Kain to keep a matter under wraps. He certainly wouldn't share the method with random people either.