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WHO: Cosima Niehaus - and you?
WHAT: Catch-all log for August
WHEN: Handwavey depending on when your character will be around Skyhold
WHERE: ...Skyhold
NOTES: While Cosima is going to be ill in one of the starters, it is fair to assume she'll be back on her feet within a week or two, so feel free to assume she looks fine if you run into her outside the healer's tent. (Alternately, if you'd like her looking a little peaky as a hook, that works too!) If you want something other than the hooks below, or want to chat first, DM me or grab me on plurk.

I. Healer's Tents

Cosima has been instructed to rest, and at first, the instruction is unnecessary; she's too weak to do much else. But spirit healing seems to have done the trick, at least temporarily, and as her strength starts to come back, it brings her curiosity with it. Thus, whenever no one is there to order her back to her cot, she wanders - mostly respectfully keeping her distance, but occasionally asking a question if she thinks she can get away with it. Some of the healing is related to medicine as she understands it. Some of it she has no frame of reference for at all. But concerns like "not wearing herself out" are secondary to learning more about what's going on as they patch people back together. She's not as well as she'd like to think, but she's well enough to get restless.

II. Kitchens

It is well known that convalescence requires baked goods. Cosima is still hesitant about overstepping, since she technically hasn't joined the Inquisition; she's a refugee, and she's well aware of how long she wouldn't last if someone decided to kick her out. So she is very scrupulous about asking first before she takes anything and about trying not to be unreasonable in how frequently she asks.

It's not her fault that those little buns with the jam that tastes like peach in the center are so addictive.

III. Various Around Skyhold - Roommate Search

Once she's determined that she's eligible for a barracks room, Cosima has decided to get one. What she hasn't entirely resigned herself to facing is a randomly assigned roommate. She's too old for that nonsense. On the other hand, she doesn't exactly have a huge roster of acquaintances to ask. So she's compromising by asking around. If someone else is looking for a roommate, at least they can have a beer together and make sure they don't hate each other before committing to cohabitation.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Korrin's been a frequent visitor to the healing tents ever since her sudden return from Orlais late last month, stopping in to check on one patient in particular but not so antisocial as to ignore anyone else she passes. Granted, her deepening concern has her a bit distracted these days, but she never intends to be rude about it. The tall (at least a head taller than most human men), horned woman is just returning to the tents with a plate of fresh hearth cakes, hoping that will tempt a certain person into having an appetite, when she spots the human woman who's not one of the healing staff. A patient, then.

"Let me guess, you're not supposed to be on your feet yet." Her lips twitch a little, those her gaze is understanding. If there's anything she hates, it's being stuck idle in a cot and told to remain that way until someone deems otherwise.

Edited 2016-08-06 17:42 (UTC)

"Uh." She offers a sheepish shrug. "...guilty as charged. Sorry."

...sorry, but making no particular move to go back to her cot, for the record.

"Are you visiting someone on staff or a patient? If you don't mind saying." She knows that the stranger probably wants to get to whoever those cakes are for, but Cosima is conversation-starved and can't pass up the chance for at least a small exchange.

The apology is met with a shrug. "Oh, I'm not lecturing. I've no right to, not when I was being a huge pain in the ass about resting up a few months ago here. They won't hear about you from me."

She smiles, though that smile fades a little as she answers the question. "I'm visiting an old friend who's a patient. Asher, big hairy Avvar guy with his old-as-balls mabari. He's...been here for a while." If Cosima's seen him, she'll know about his infected wounds slowly killing him...and if she hasn't, then maybe that's for the best. It probably doesn't help someone's recovery to see another steadily declining.

Edited 2016-08-07 00:49 (UTC)

She smiles. "Thanks, I appreciate that." The directness is refreshing, and it's nice to know she's not the only bad patient they've seen. The smile is brief, though, as the other matter is clearly a bit more serious.

"I've seen him from a distance, I think, though I'm too new to know from Avvar." But big guy, been in the tents awhile, healers with very serious expressions... she can put it together. "I didn't want to bother the other patients too much. Lots of people don't want company when they're sick or hurt."

"He might not mind the company. It depends on his mood, to be honest. Just be prepared for a lot of weird stories and Chantry hate." Korrin will make a mental note to see if Asher seems willing to speak with other patients; if it helps distract him from his own state, all the better. But she won't push that on him if he'd rather only be surrounded by familiar faces.

She shrugs, then holds out the plate. "Take one, if you'd like. They're just hearth cakes the staff made; sugar, cinnamon, dried fruit and some other things. Asher's not likely to have the appetite for them all anyway, so some might otherwise end up in Bronson's stomach."

"Oh, thanks." Gratefully, she helps herself to one. "Is Bronson the mabari, or is one of the healers stealing patients' baked goods?" It's a small joke, both because Cosima still isn't back to full speed and because not everyone welcomes jokes when visiting a gravely ill friend. Still.

That gets a chuckle out of Korrin as she likewise snags one of herself. There's still a few left to go around. "He's the most grizzled mabari you're ever likely to see, covered in scars and missing most of one ear and blind in one eye. Expect him to play that up if you have food he wants. It almost makes me wish I was Fereldan, then maybe I'd give in to having one of my own."

"I haven't had a pet in years," she says, after swallowing her mouthful of cake. "It'd be comforting, I think. I'll be on my guard for begging though." She absolutely won't, she'll be a very easy mark.

"Are they common, mabaris? I don't think I've seen many so far, but I've only been here a couple of months."

Because her grandmother drilled at least some manners into her, Korrin likewise doesn't try to talk with her mouth full. She could see the old Tal-Vashoth glaring as clear as day, if she ended up spewing crumbs onto someone just met. As to the question, she shrugs.

"We're on the border with Ferelden, so they're common enough. They're very important to Fereldan identity, though not everyone has one. But that's why Orlesians will sniff at them and call them 'dog lords'. They mean to be derogatory, but every Fereldan I've met takes it as a point of pride. People from other countries own some, but to Orlesian eyes, they're honorary Fereldans, anyway."

"Wait, do Orlesians hate dogs or something? That seems pretty harsh." Dogs are great! Who hates dogs? "I mean, no offense to Orlesians." She still doesn't have the firmest grip on who she's met from which countries, but she tries not to be rude about it.

That gets a snort of amusement from Korrin after she stakes another bite. "I wouldn't care if you did mean to offend them. By and large, their elite are pretty damn awful. And before you ask, no I'm not Fereldan, so I don't have a stake in this. It's less the dogs they hate and more their masters. Orlais invaded and took over Ferelden for a while, until Fereldans kicked them out earlier this age. They're still sore about it, both sides. Aside from bringing up the Mage-Templar War, the best way to start a fight would be to ask the nobles about the occupation. Fun times for everyone."

Cosima makes a face, briefly. "I hate not having context for anything. I feel like it's only a matter of time before I piss someone off hugely by mistake. I've heard the Mage-Templar War mentioned, but I still don't have a handle on it."

Korrin's look is sympathetic, having seen much the same sentiment from other rifters by now. "I can explain, if you want, but that comes with a disclaimer. I'm what the Chantry would call an apostate mage; I've never been a part of their Circle of Magi or ever wanted to, after what I've heard and seen. I believe in mage freedom and the Templars as a group can go fuck themselves for what they've done to mages. So, yeah, I'm a little biased."

"Everyone's biased," Cosima says, with a little shrug. "The more people who tell me their version, the more I know, right? I'm happy to hear your explanation if you don't mind sharing it."

A first person explanation may be a bit more biased, but on the other hand, probably more reliable in the details.

(This is why she's not a social scientist, though. Part of her can't help but wish for reproducible data in a lab.)

"Alright, but if I start to ramble on too much without explaining terms that need it, let me know. Basically, it all stems from the Chantry. I'm sure you know it's the dominant religion all over Thedas. Even Tevinter's Andrastian, in their own fashion. To condense a lot, its attitudes towards magic stem from the Tevinter Imperium of old, the one that worshipped the Old Gods and did a mass-sacrifice so that a bunch of magisters could reach the Golden City, the heart of the Fade and the former seat of the Maker or the realm of the Old Gods, depending on the perspective.

Mortals aren't supposed to enter the city alive, only pass through to it when they die. The city turned black as soon as they arrived, and the mages were cast back to Thedas as the first darkspawn, triggering the First Blight and nearly destroying the world. So, when the Chantry formed, it took one look at the abuses Tevinter allowed and preached that 'magic should serve man and never rule over him'...an understandable sentiment, I guess, but like with everything else the Chantry does, it went to extremes sooner or later.

I'm talking about the Chantry because they, and the Templars that served them, were the ones in charge of the Circles. They taught people to hate and fear mages, that we're all one step away from becoming possessed by demons and wiping out everyone else. Manifesting magic meant you were taken away to the Circle and unless your family had a lot of influence, you'd likely never hear from them again. Hell, you'd never set foot outside the Circle tower without permission and strict rules. It wouldn't even matter if you tried to escape, because when the Templars bring in new mages, they take a portion of their blood to make a phylactery, an item which can be used to track said mages down. You were made an apprentice and that's that.

When the time came, you'd be taken for your Harrowing; sending you mentally into the Fade and essentially throwing you to the wolves. If you became possessed, you were killed. If you took too long, you were also assumed a lost cause and killed. If you returned unpossessed, then you...got to live, but you still couldn't leave. I was told there was no warning or preparation for this, that many mages disappeared without word and were assumed lost to Harrowings. There was only one way out, but it was horrific. Mages who didn't want to undergo all that could be made Tranquil; they'd lose their magic and become immune to possession, but they'd also lose whatever spark of personality they had. After that, they'd be worker drones for the Circle. And that's not even touching the more abusive places, where mages who'd passed their Harrowing could still be made Tranquil if they crossed a Templar."

Yeah, that's just the background context. There's so much more, but Korrin pauses to see if any of that makes sense or if she needs to break it down further.

Cosima listens intently. "That's... yeah. Um, that's pretty unrelentingly awful."

She suspects she knows the answer because of the logistics of the system that's been described, but she still has to ask. "How old are people, usually, when they start manifesting magic?"

Glad to see that she understand the awful life mages were forced to endure, Korrin nonetheless smiles slightly apologetically, knowing it's a lot of information to process. "It varies, but usually around puberty. I was eleven when I discovered I could blast things with lightning. Fortunately, said things were wolves ambushing me and I didn't hurt anyone else. Some mages aren't so lucky, but that's why mentoring is important--not locking people up for the rest of their lives."

"Jesus." Cosima rubs her arm, absently, thinking through all that. "I'm afraid I can guess, but what typically happens to parents who don't buy into 'we have to do this shit to your kid for the greater good' then? Not everyone does, surely."

"At lot of them do, and the rest aren't equipped to handle the outbursts of a budding mage. But yes, there are some...and the Chantry deals with them.

I just returned from a place relevant to that, in fact. In Rivain, up north, they had a Circle pretty much just to appease the Chantry, as they're otherwise a lot more relaxed about magic. They have a long-held tradition of seers leading their communities, so their Circle was pretty much just a place to gather, not a prison. People could see their families whenever they wanted...and the Chantry annulled it two years ago. Annulment is pretty much whenever the Chantry deems a Circle 'irredeemable' -usually because of blood magic or demons- and kills everyone inside. At least in this case, they didn't entirely succeed, and we were able to bring back some of their mages to shelter here. So, if you see some mages particularly jumpy around the Templars, that's probably why."

Edited 2016-08-16 14:15 (UTC)

"Wow, uh. Yeah, that'd do it. But the Inquisition is... part of the Chantry? Allied with it? Sorry, this feels like something I should know, but it's not totally clear." She's grateful for even a biased view; lots of people are less enthusiastic about so many questions.

"Ah...no, actually. You'd think it would be, since Divine Justinia started all this or planned to start it if the Conclave fell through. That was a gathering of mage and Templar leadership with the Chantry at the Temple of Sacred Ashes, to gather and see if they could settle things without further bloodshed. But there was an explosion, the explosion that created the breach and all those rifts, and she never got to see it through herself. Leliana and Cassandra, her Left and Right Hands, were the ones to do that instead.

Chantry leadership turned against them, because of the one woman who survived the explosion, the one who walked out of the Fade with a glowing green hand. People started calling her the Herald of Andraste, because they saw a woman behind her when she existed the Fade and assumed that was the late prophet. That frightened the Chantry, so they denounced her and...no, we're not part of them, not while they're busy calling us heretics." She smirks a little at that, somewhat tickled at ruffling Chantry feathers, though her eyes dim a little at mention of the Herald. It's been a while since she spoke about her, but the memories haven't faded.

Cosima nods, slightly abashed at her own lack of knowledge, but following the explanation well enough. She absently runs a thumb over the shard in her own palm. "That would be kind of contrary," she allows with a half smile. "Sorry, this is a lot of really heavy stuff, but I appreciate someone breaking it down. Before I got sick I was working my way through some history, but the library has more about, like, centuries ago."

Korrin frowns a little in concern at mention of an illness, but she doesn't prod, not wanting make her uncomfortable. "Yeah, and you have to take the library contents with a grain of salt. Even the stuff that isn't outright Chantry propaganda often has a heavy slant to it. And you're not likely to find anything as recent as the Mage-Templar war in there, either. Still, there are some decent books that could give you more context. When I head up there again to get something for myself, I'll see what I can pass on. I know what it's like to be stuck in the healing tents and bored silly because there's nothing to do."

"I'd appreciate it," Cosima says with a small smile. "Even just some title suggestions are useful. It's hard starting with no context at all, but I'm also sure you guys have better things to do than start from scratch with every single Rifter."

"Anything by Brother Ferdinand Genitivi is usually worth looking into; he at least as sense to question dogma instead of blindly following it. And sure, the Chant of Light will give you a lot of context, but also check out the Dissonant Verses. What the Chantry bans is as insightful as what they showcase. And yes, they may be banned, but that hasn't stopped us from ordering and stocking the library as we please. The Chantry, leaderless as it is now, has a lot more to worry about than banned books."

Korrin crosses her arms, smirking as something else comes to mind.

"Checking out the history of the Dales can't hurt, either. A lot of what's written isn't the whole story and has a huge human bias...but I know for a fact that some of my elven friends have taken to writing corrections in the margins. That ought to balance things out somewhat."

(OPEN)

I. Healer's Tents (Early August)

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so much tldr, sorry

haha she literally asked for it, so

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