travel far enough

inquisitors inspired headcanons: accepting !

𝙲𝙷𝙸𝚈𝙾𝚄 — what’s your favourite weapon to carry ? is it special in any way ?

salem likes his swords, all of them. one might think he carries far too many to have a favorite, but that’s just an assumption. and, as salem’s mother would always say, assumption is the mother of all fuck ups. she probably also stole that line from a movie, but who is salem to judge? the line makes perfect sense ninety percent of the time anyway.

no, salem does indeed have a favorite and it’s one he stumbled across while researching for a location the inquisitors went to a couple of years ago. a simple black cutlass, nicely curved, very well made with carbon steel. he doesn’t even remember where they went for their job then, some shipyard, somewhere in the united states, but that’s all he remembers now. if he pulled his pictures out he could give in detail commentary on his discovery.

“no, okay, it’s fashioned after a 1917 cutlass sword used by the navy, so it’s a replica, but this thing is badass, i’m serious.” salem recalls convincing woojin on exactly why he needed this particular three hundred dollar sword. “if someone wants quality, they pay. iuppiter gives us plenty.” at least, salem convinces himself he needed to persuade woojin. that’s probably not how the story went.

“best part of it is — it’s black, fucking badass i’m telling you.”

yes, definitely embellished story.

𝙸𝙽𝚀𝚄𝙸𝚂𝙸𝚃𝙾𝚁𝚂 𝙸𝙽𝚂𝙿𝙸𝚁𝙴𝙳 𝙷𝙴𝙰𝙳𝙲𝙰𝙽𝙾𝙽𝚂 | 𝙰𝚂𝙺 𝙼𝙴𝙼𝙴 #𝟸

𝙲𝙻𝙾𝚃𝙷𝙾 — what’s your favourite childhood memory ? why ? 𝙻𝙰𝙲𝙷𝙴𝙻𝙸𝚂 — what was the best moment of your life ? why is it significant to you ? 𝙰𝚃𝚁𝙾𝙿𝙾𝚂 — do you believe in death ? what do you think waits for you in the afterlife ? 𝙱𝙾𝙲𝙷𝙸𝙲𝙰 — what’s your happy place ? where do you feel the most peaceful ? 𝙼𝙴𝚁𝙲𝚄𝚁𝚈 — who is the most important person to you ? is there anyone you hold close to your chest ? 𝚂𝙴𝚂𝙷𝙰𝚃 — what’s your favourite book, movie and song ? why ? 𝚃𝙴𝙽𝙹𝙸𝙽 — what’s the most valuable lesson you have learned ? how did it change you ? 𝙼𝙸𝙽𝙴𝚁𝚅𝙰 — what do you think about art ? what’s your favourite piece of artwork ? what does it mean to you ? 𝙾𝙶𝙼𝙰 — do you have any cultural values that you kept since you were a child ? any life philosophies you go by ? 𝚅𝙰𝙲 — how many languages do you know ? where and how did you learn them ? 𝙿𝚁𝙾𝙼𝙴𝚃𝙷𝙴𝚄𝚂 — how is your muse with technology ? is it important to your muse to be around technology ? in what way ? 𝙴𝚁𝙻𝙰𝙽𝙶 𝚂𝙷𝙴𝙽 — what was the most difficult challenge you ever faced ? how did you overcome it ? 𝙲𝙷𝙸𝚈𝙾𝚄 — what’s your favourite weapon to carry ? is it special in any way ? 𝙰𝙽𝙷𝚄𝚁 — are you good at shooting ? when was the first time you handled a gun or a weapon of any sorts ? 𝙴𝚁𝙸𝚂 — how often do you get into fights ? which one do you remember the most ? 𝙵𝚁𝙴𝚈𝙹𝙰 — did you go to college ? when did you finish your education, what did you study ? 𝚂𝙴𝙺𝙷𝙼𝙴𝚃 — do you have any scars ? if so, how did you get them ? 𝙸𝚇𝙲𝙷𝙴𝙻 — what do you think about hospitals ? did you ever need to stay at a hospital ?

before the letter has finished being read, salem has already planned out exactly how he wants to do his own packing up and preparing to leave. it’s the same as usual, and he never takes along more than he needs ( though, he does spare the room for his favorite chocolate bars ). so, once the meeting is commenced, salem heads straight for the shared bedroom with cinna to grab his shit together. the hacker is nowhere to be seen yet, but he’ll show up eventually, not that salem’s concerned.

being used to packing everything tight together, salem has everything spread out on his bed to roll it up properly, just like his mother taught him. speaking of his parents, he knows he has to call them to let them know his ‘break’ is over. he’d visited them two weeks ago, but he knows the few days he was there weren’t enough for them. some day, on a break of his, he’ll take them on a trip, no backpacking, but right now his focus is the inquisitors. not that his parents have any idea what he gets up to.

as if summoning them, salem’s phone rings it’s generic tone, the one he’s assigned his parents ( his dad specifically ). he rolls his eyes and decides he might as well get this over with, no time like the present after all.

“hey dad,” salem says the second he answers the call. there’s a snort on the other end.

“nothing getting past you, eh kiddo?”

salem scoffs this time and presses the phone between his shoulder and ear. “nope, not at all. i was just about to call you anyway — the group’s heading out again.”

his father hums softly, suspicious as always. his mother’s happy for him having a ‘group’ to backpack with, but his father’s way too smart for his own good. “that’s nice. where to?”

“i hear your suspect,” salem laughs, “tokyo, dad. we’re backpacking in tokyo. might be gone for a few months, but i’ll call as much as i can on the satellite phone, alright?”

he hears his mother in the background tittering on about something. “your mother’s found your old baby photos. she’s feeling nostalgic today… i think you should talk to her before you head out.”

there’s a shuffle and then his mother’s on the line. she sounds teary-eyed but happy to hear from salem. it takes a good thirty minutes of talking to her before she finally decides to pass the phone back to his father, who takes it only after salem’s told his mother he loves her.

“listen, salem,” his dad begins, as he always does when salem’s heading out, “be careful, alright? we worry about you. make sure you have a large supply of your medicines with you. i know you’re a grown man now, but you’re still our son and we’re going to worry about you until we’ve passed on.”

salem pauses in packing his clothes to sit on the bed. across from him is his dresser, the one that has the single family photo he keeps with him at all times. it’s the only physical photo he keeps framed, the rest confined to his memory cards and camera. it’s of the last time he and his parents got the time to take a good family photo, probably over a year ago now. in it, his father is already greying, and his mother’s face looks thin — he knows they’re getting older, and they know he’ll never tire of backpacking.

it doesn’t mean he doesn’t miss them.

“i’m always careful, dad,” salem smiles like he does when he’s readying a joke, but the joke doesn’t come, “i love you guys. i promise i’ll be careful and i’ll call whenever i can.”

once he’s done on the phone, he places it to the side and sweeps his hair up into a rubber band to keep it out of his face. the packing is done an hour later, everything stored away in the proper pockets. his weapons and gear for traversing their usual types of destinations are in another room, but he’ll pack those shortly.

ahem, i'm leigh! i'm over 25 and i use he / him pronouns. i live in the pst/pdt timezone and i am messy(tm) and i cuss a lot and i probably yell too much too, sorry. i promise i'll try not to leave everyone hanging for long on replies ( i can't anyways because of activity check but yknOW what i mean ). you can reach me fastest on discord ( tho i'm slow there some days, i apologize in advance ) -- mothtopus#7748

uhm, i swear i'm not the interesting one, salem is so without further ado, here's him--

bennett dean salem montanari, but please only refer to him as salem unless you want a knife to the throat. don't mention that his initials spell out "bdsm" okay, his parents have a wicked sense of humor ( which is where he got his, but shh, you didn't hear that from me ).

he's 28, been with the inquisitors for the last 8 years, so i'm sure there's all kinda of stories we can plot that have happened ( that we can write  happening if you'd like a past thread! ) so that's gonna be a lot of fun. you can find his profile here ; his bio here ; and some rather crappy plots here.

another little thing -- salem handles stress and serious situations by making jokes, i long for the day something shuts him up so, good luck.

just some brief info on salem and then, yknow, we can plot if you like!