faderift | you don't own the green pines

WHO: Merrill and open!
WHAT: An open log.
WHEN: Justinian 20th - mid-Solace
WHERE: Skyhold and the surrounding area
NOTES: Some talk of violence, injuries, death.

late justinian through early solace | healing tents
[ Justice is dead, but he nearly took many others with them -- Merrill included. She's in a bad way for a few days, especially after; her cheekbone is broke, her ribs mostly intact but her internal organs badly bruised, along with various and sundry scrapes, cuts, bite marks, bruises, and burns.

Still, she's a decent patient. She stays put in the tents, at least, though they can't quite get her to stop talking when she's feeling well enough to sit up and do so. Visitors are allowed at the discretion of the healers, but Merrill isn't going to turn anyone (or anything) away. ]

early solace | around skyhold
[ When she's allowed to leave the healing tents, it's not full-time. They don't want her going down to the Warden camp to sleep, but she's allowed to wander Skyhold as long as she's careful. As a result, Merrill mostly relaxes -- visits with friends or with potential new friends, sits in the garden, watches the birds.

She likes to go visit the griffons, when she can, though she has to be careful. They're less good about watching for injuries. ]

early-mid solace | camp shady fucker
[ When she's allowed to move more, when she's more patched up between a combination of time and magic, Merrill gets to work. Sleeping in a tent isn't new, but the events at Weisshaupt have shaken her. If they need to get out, she wants to be able to move quickly.

She starts to gather supplies. Wood, mostly, but any who know much about the Dalish may recognize what begins to take shape or the plans that Merrill checks every once in a while: an aravel. ]

wildcard
[ you know what to do ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Pel has nursed the sick long enough that she knows Merrill will be fed. People are good at food. But sometimes other things fall to the wayside. Pel has brought with her a basin, a towel, soap, and a pair of nail clippers.]

Aneth ara, lethallan. I thought I might wash your hair.

[ Merrill would be delighted to see Pel either way, but when it's to have her hair washed? She lights up even more, even as the smile pulls at her injured face. ]

Oh, that would be lovely. I mean, I think they got any blood out of it, but... well.

[It's not blood Pel is thinking about so much as dirt and grease. She quickly casts to fill the basin with ice, then casts fire to melt and heat it before setting it at the head of Merrill's cot. Small hands gently untuck black hair from beneath Merrill's head to arrange it above.]

I also brought clippers for your toenails, if they're bothering you.

Oh- that might be nice, yes. Maybe for my fingernails too? I keep trying to pull at them because I'm bored.

[ Pel has barely gotten started and it's already nice -- it's more intimate than the medical exams, and it's relaxing. She's always loved having her hair played with. ]

[Pel supports Merrill's head in her hands and sets her pillow aside so that her head is mainly off the cot now. She brings up the basin of hot water and begins to wet her hair.]

We'll get your fingernails. And maybe a book to stave off the boredom. [She is careful to keep the water warm with magic as she wets her hair.] Did you succeed? With Anders?

We got Justice out, though he turned into Vengeance, if he wasn't already. [ She is leaning toward "was already", but- well, Merrill can admit she's biased in her opinion of the spirit. ]

Still- we defeated him, and no one died, and no one was possessed afterward. I think that counts.

[She starts to work up a lather with the soap and water in Merrill's hair.]

Spirits are impossible to predict. It's probably the best outcome anyone could have realistically expected. And you know this is real progress. This could lead to other possessions being reversed, eventually.

It's what I expected, at least. Anders... well, I imagine things are very odd for him, now.

[ There's a soft sigh and Merrill lets herself lean a little more back into Pel's hands. ]

But I do hope so. After my clan, after Weisshaupt- to be able to help those who were possessed would be amazing.

[Pel's hands begin to give Merrill's scalp a thorough massage. Every so often, she gives the lather a drizzle of warm water to keep her from getting cold.] The things this Inquisition has accomplished, Merrill. After a thousand years of one way, the human world is seeing another. You've done so much already.

But I don't know that our work will ever be done. Maybe not during this age, anyway. [ The human world has seen another way, yes, but not all of it. Horrible, awful things still happen to elves, to mages, to those considered different. ]

[Merrill once inspired Pel to change her entire life, before she even met her. Merrill is a paragon. To hear her say her work is not yet done, even when she has made the greatest strides of her generation of Dalish elves, is at once validating and intimidating. Pel wants to accomplish at least half as much as Merrill, and that is becoming a taller and taller order.]

I think you can relax while you recover from the last ages-old mystery you solved, at least, [she says gently, fingernails lightly scratching Merrill's scalp to loosen dirt and oil.]

[ If it helps, Pel, Merrill often mostly feels like she's just stumbled into the right things at the right time. Granted, Merrill doesn't have the greatest self-esteem. ]

If you ever try to reverse possession, by the way? Make sure there are plenty of healers. And maybe some Templars, because he started summoning demons and it was horrid. Also tried to possess me, at the end.

[ So yes, relaxing would be great. ]

you don't own the green pines

healing tents

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