faderift | open; Dry your smoke-stung eyes

Araceli had been gone for a while. And maybe normally that's not something that would bother Church--she's a "bard" now after all, probably has things to do, people to sing to and/or kill, but her latest mission took her pretty damn far away, according to the maps. And what he's read about Rivain, it must be a damn sight like Spain or...Spain-adjacent like where she's from. The trip worried her--no, not the trip so much as the reasoning for the trip, the reason for getting people to go and fight some big bad guys and save some mages.

She might not consider herself a Rifter anymore, but Church still gives a fuck. So when he hears of the arrival of some worse for wear mages from Rivain coming, he's got energy to spare, poking around to see if Araceli is among those returning.

And when he does eventually find her, he makes his way over to her side. "Good hunting? Nice vacation? Did you buy some nice beachfront property and only came back to pack your things?"

Rivain at first had been a chance to relax. Get away from Skyhold to soak up the sun, swim in the sea every day, experience a culture that wasn't buttoned up so tight the way almost everywhere else seems to be but well, there's always something ugly lurking in Thedas, and Araceli feels like she should have been expecting it. But maybe just once a beach could have been a beach, and studying a culture could have just been that.

At least there weren't Red Templars, she doesn't know if she could've dealt with that again.

"Hola," she greets when she sees Church, and the smile is mostly real if still worn at the edges. "Oh I would never run away from the Inquisition, though the idea of commandeering a ship and seeing what's out over the edges of their maps? Tempting. Very tempting. Who knows, maybe it's all their better things."

(Probably not but a girl can hope that the land filled with the milk of human/elven/dwarven/various Qun-allied peoples' milk of kindness regardless of being a mage or not a mage is out there. Somewhere.)

Psh, that's expecting things to go as planned and also your way. Those are things that Church has taken a long time to learn you don't do. Really just start planning on everything going haywire in ridiculous ways very quickly.

"Okay, but if you do set sail for the unknown, you'll totally put me on your crew, right? I am dying to know what's off the edges of those maps." Sure, it's terrifying, and it's possible it could be worse than what's here, but hey, adventure.

"How are you doing?" The question is asked more more solemnly than anything else that usually comes out of his mouth. The basics are: bad, bad, bad things, more bad things, hey there are bad things over here, this is upsetting, good ending. As far as he knows.

At least being a solo thief does mean Araceli's at least used to planning her exit strategies. And if she does get shot, the arrow is going to mean she won't bleed out along the way but how many more layers of awful will she peel back in Thedas?

"Of course!" One hand settles on his arm for a moment while she smiles, and that's a real smile, a big bright one. "Someone with a true appetite for adventure would never be left behind to waste away in this barren frozen waste." Shithold. One of her suggestions for what they should call Skyhold and she's the one with Vashoth boobs to curl up against every night, it's a much more bleak picture for everyone else out there.

"Better now I'm back. It was good to be by the sea for my birthday but getting everyone back here where I at least know which Templars are arseholes is better than wondering who might sell us all out." Church has more than earned her honesty, he's a friend, a dear friend. She's getting there. Maybe once all the mages are well and truly settled she'll finally be able to breathe again.

Eh, fuck it, hand on his arm isn't enough and he throws his arms open wide, her only warning before being engulfed in a Church hug. "And I missed your birthday too? Damn! Belated happiness to that, then." Not that he was there in Rivain and therefore could not have celebrated, especially when he didn't know it was her birthday anyway.

He's just so glad she didn't get shanked by any big armored badasses who like to stab magical people or really anyone that bothers them, okay?

"I mean, not dying is usually a cause for happiness. And saving people like a badass." Yeah okay he'll let go finally. "Yeah, I mean, you're right though, most of the Templars here are chill with the mages. I mean some people still aren't okay with Rifters, but eh, different breed of weirdness there." No, he's really never forgiving Cassandra for putting a sword to his throat, sue him. "You need to relax before you head back out and find out more really awful shit."

Look she has zero problem with hugs so long as he has no problem with the amount of boob involved in an Araceli hug, and she tucks her head against his shoulder because it still feels so nice just to get to escape and pretend that all the problems in the world can be solved by a hug from a friend. "We don't do the presents or party thing, if that's what you do where you come from too," her words are muffled since she's in no real hurry to escape the hug. "My people have to be by the sea and return to it. Then drink a lot of rum."

If she'd been stuck in Skyhold she might've had a breakdown so somehow she luckily avoided that one

"The mages I brought back were all interested, but if I'd been in hiding for as long as them and their loved ones, I might be desperate for a distraction." So many questions, so much prodding, none of which she fought. "But everyone will still think of me as a rifter, and there were another couple along with me so if we're seen out helping the cause, doing good works? That should make your job easier too, no?"

If there's one thing Church does not mind in a hug, it's any amount of boob. Good thing he both respects and low-key fears Araceli's girlfriend. "I think we can call drinking a lot of rum partying. Or the prelude to a party." And it makes him feel less bad for not knowing what to do for presents around here.

"My job," he says with a little laugh. Yeah. Job. Sure. "You mean self-appointed unofficial representative of Rifters, to Rifters? Yeah, might be easier if more people weren't paranoid about us and think of us in association with the good guys. Your new buddies gonna be okay now that they're here, you think? Not everyone's the biggest fan of mages here, but it should at least be safe and not, y'know, an actual prison."

"I brought back so much rum. Antiva has the good brandy, Rivain has the good rum. Everywhere else has beer or wine, one tastes like piss, the other is only good for having with dinner." Usually only if you're dining with rich people too since they become unbearable about the wine.

One hand balls into a fist to give him the gentlest of punches. It wasn't quite so awful maybe when her and Marcel were doing it, and they were both fortunately on the same page, having dinner with Templars. Though the thought of Church having dinner with Templars...she'd help with that. If needed. "Well you have more sense than this Obi-Wan Kenobi, the way he just...blurting everything out the way he did, even all that time ago and I still cannot believe!" If Marcel had been there for her to go to maybe she would have been less annoyed but her palms had itched. "It's like so many things: run as hard and as fast as you can, just to stand still. Commoners have to do that all the time in the eyes of the nobility, mages must have to do it, rifters will now do it too. I think getting them away from Dairsmuid to a place they can rest safely, and where they were openly offered sanctuary - Madame LeBlanc extended that to them when she asked what supplies she might send with Korrin - helps. If people are not okay with it, I will hear. I will deal with it."

That serene smile does not promise a pleasant time for said people.

"We've got someone working on introducing the land to the fineries of booze that tastes good instead of tasting like booze. Mixed drinks for all, baby!" Would Araceli know what a body shot is, and how far into the ground would he get punched by Korrin if he practiced it on Araceli?

Church play-winces at the faux punch. "Watch it, slugger. You'll bruise my ever so delicate ego. I mean skin." Marcel knew what he was doing. He's not sure what made everything come so easy to the guy that had also so easily taken up bartending, but guess they'll never know now. "Y'know, Obi-Wan is supposed to be the guy that reports to the higher-ups if they need someone to talk to? Like a go-to man that if people have complaints, go to him, if someone needs a report, go to him. He's gonna make us all sound crazy, and I don't even dislike the guy, on principle, but he's uhhhhh, he's not the guy I would've picked."

At least it's not Galadriel. He would've had a god damn shitfit over that. She'd get them all lined up for execution. At least Church's mouth only ran off at Cassandra. "This place has good people in it. Not everyone's happy with the company of everyone else, but nobody's murdering each other for being a whatever minority. That said, you need a hand, I'll be there to give it. These people don't need to be reminded of the shit they went through already."

"You do know that rum is the water of life on a ship? We are a more exciting and liberated people than the people of Thedas." Or rather: water turns to very potent and stagnant slime if you attempt to keep it, so varying strengths of rum it is, but it sounds much better the way she says it. Because let's face it, Thedas is horribly repressed. "Please tell me this means cocktails though." Because if so, happy hour needs to hurry up, she can only stomach so much before she needs to drink dwarven ale to look friendly. Araceli would ask Korrin not to punch her friends, she's all for good times. (Look she's doing really good at her first shot at monogamy here so body shots would be down with friends and pretty much all ladies.)

"Slugger?" Look she knows guns but what is that word? "He has a...different approach to politics. I do not wish to say that perhaps he has not immersed himself enough but...well, politics is simply nature, and some of us are more suited to survival than others." Which is a polite way of stating her opinion without directly stating it really: a great deal of them have made it this far without too much of a fuss, have found a place for themselves. But well, she reports directly to the Nightingale or those under the Nightingale as well as everything she knows as a bard so she likes to think the deck is stacked in her favour.

Maybe if it had been the Araceli of months ago she might have considered but it's better this way; like she said before to others, she will always be considered a rifter by so many. What she does? It'll reflect on them. "That goes for you as well. I study the history, the politics, the geography, the culture, the languages - don't ask to hear my Orlesian though, my accent doesn't work well for it - even the heraldry. Only one of us should have to suffer the books."

(Spoiler: actually a giant nerd, she does enjoy everything except the bits about how to insult your guests by how you set the table.)

"Hopefully cocktails. So many cocktails with actual flavors. We'll make some little fake umbrellas to put in them." Maybe she doesn't have little fake drink umbrellas where she's from. Her loss.

He won't define slugger, he knows better by now that unless people push, they don't really need to understand every word and phrase and pop culture reference out of his mouth. It's really only bound to make most people more confused. And does he really need to introduce Thedas to baseball? Hell no. "Listen to you, getting all tip-toe around opinions and real feelings. I'm not about to run off to anyone going 'Araceli said a bad thing about someone'--who really cares what I have to say that isn't a Rifter?" And maybe Cassandra, if only because she's the only one here who has any idea that his history makes his human status questionable at best and sound possessed at probably the worst.

"You're really taking to the bard thing," is his point. "And I can only study so much in a sitting. I'd heard the word tome before, but man, I'd never actually seen a book that could be called a tome before Thedas." Especially when most everything is digital. "And all the frou frou Orlesian stuff? I mean, I'm friends with plenty of Orlesians here, but maaan, I'd go nuts if I had to live there. I'd offend everyone and their grandmas just by looking the wrong way, even before I open my mouth."

She doesn't know umbrella but she knows parasol, and that's the only sort of thing you put in drinks. They're really handy tiny improvised weapons sometimes too, if people won't take the hint.

"Everyone is listening everywhere. I used to pay people to listen in places for me at home." Not just as a thief but well, it was handy and hey, kids are always happy to make a little extra money when a girl and her fox pop up saying 'hey, kid, can you come tell me the gossip in exchange for some coin and some soup?' Unfortunately, Araceli is probably being watched since going between the mages, or at least since making a point to see Madame de Fer, and if word gets back to Sister Nightingale then she would really rather not be the one to disappoint her teacher. She's never done it before.

"Well I am twenty-one now, I am a woman grown, I need to start practicing being very dull in preparation for my long life of caring about meaningless things," she teases. "Can you imagine if they actually had maps enough to fill more books though? Imagine. Imagine how many more nations. Imagine all the tomes. They would chase you, Church, nipping at your heels. Read us, you must read us, and then we would find your hand poking out. Very sad." But she'd wear something scandalously low-cut to your funeral so you'd win? Sort of? "You know that can be a good tactic too. People don't think when they're angry or offended, they end up saying and doing all sorts of things they'd never do otherwise, and it's a brilliant distraction."

"As a grown man, I think I can safely say that pretending to be dull and pretending to care about meaningless things is a waste of time." Church you're like 8 with a bunch of false memories, don't even. "Care a whole lot about the things that matter to you, and don't waste life on anything else that you don't absolutely have to. Cuz those things you care about might not always be there."

Whoops. That got Real for a second. Calm down and get back to the silly happy. Time for a smile! "So what you're saying is, I should totally be extremely offensive and a big giant asshole buffoon around the Orlesians while you walk by and take note of all the stupid shit they say and do to use as blackmail later. For the Inquisition, of course." Of course. "Can we do that? I mean, so long as I don't start a lynch mob and die."

"I know, but back home both my parents are suddenly taking great umbrage with me; my mother will still be cursing that she has no grey hairs to blame on me, and my father might somehow appear through a rift only to say he is a young man still." Honestly that hurts to say when she has a ridiculous stack of letters just to them tucked away in a drawer in her and Korrin's room but she manages it. "We live lives of great passion where I am from. More than Antivans. We would make Antivans look like boring old farts in comparison."

Sorry Zevran, her people are cooler than all of your people, sorry not sorry.

Taking a careful breath, she closes her eyes and counts to three because this could go so very wrong for her. "If you do it carefully. As part of a plan. I would hate to see you break your arse by being thrown out on it. But you have a lot of advantages because you're a human, a man, and you're not a mage, so those are several things stacked in your favour for a start. If you ever hear anything noteworthy like that? Remember who said it, where they said it, when they said it; that's the Game. You can utterly destroy people using information like that just right."

There's a moment where Church's face is one of faraway thoughtfulness, a hand running through his hair. It's long enough that it can fall in his face, and he hasn't seen any grey hairs yet...yet. Funny, for all the stress his brain has (apparently) been through, you'd think the body might've gotten the hint and turned a shocking shade of grey. Thank god, he's not sure he's the silver fox type. "Passionate, yeah, that's definitely you to a T. If you do end up saying that around any Antivans, let me know, so I can get a drink and a snack and watch the passion fight happen. Passionately." Like a Spanish telenovella!

"I...you know I didn't really mean hey, let's go waltzing into the middle of a not-French city full of masked rich people and cause a scene, but I mean...like if you really were into it, I'm not exactly spy material. I kinda like to watch things from afar? But I can't really do that here. ...I mean if you ever, for some reason, needed my help with a mission or something, I'm totally in, but 007 I am not." Church stop dropping pop culture references. "I also would need to sing, like, way better than I do now to really qualify as a bard."

If she were ever asked? Well, some men can absolutely pull off the distinguished silver fox look, and since Araceli has a fox of her own, and has a little one inked neatly on one arm, she is a fan. It's a good look. But Araceli's mother has had her daughter climbing and racing across the rooftops of their home country since the age of twelve, learning how to steal, up the rigging, being shot at or chased by guards - she does not have a single grey hair she can blame on her daughter. Some people have all the luck. "Charge admission, I think it'd be worth your while."

Like seriously, no one has seen her duel. It's a crime because it's like cutting a promo, it gets savage.

"You know, you've heard me sing. You owe me a song one day. I will collect on that." There's just an appropriate amount of threat in there since she doesn't have the stature to loom. A moment of silence for being so small. Why can't she loom unless she appears dramatically on a rooftop somewhere? "But I always like to have friends by my side for things. People I know I can rely on - it makes it run smoother that way when I know the people I'm working with." Dairsmuid went well but that was more having to take what she could get and hopefully whenever she next gets to be in charge of something, she'll get to have some more finesse going on.

open; Dry your smoke-stung eyes

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