C'est la vie

[aceso]

WHO: Christine + OPEN
WHAT: A catch up post.
WHEN: Kingsway 8th to the start of Harvestmere
WHERE: Skyhold + off somewhere with Korrin
NOTES: Mention of the death of a loved one possible?

Part of her wishes she could have stayed with her mother, but now that Maman was living with Uncle Pierre, Christine knew she was safe (and that her uncle wouldn't want a mage in his house). Besides, she has her duties to the Inquisition as a healer and a researcher of red lyrium. When she returns, she plans to throw herself back into her work, but the new addition to her life has other plans.

{ adventures in dog-sitting }
The dog is her mother's. She repeats this to anyone who asks after the lively little fellow, lest they think she actually chose to adopt him of her own volition. Oh, no. This duty was put on her by a woman blubbering into her handkerchief, asking what was to become of her precious Poncelet because her brother wouldn't allow her to bring him. Uncle Pierre is a real ass. But Christine takes this very seriously despite her dislike of ill-behaved canines. She watches little Ponce like a hawk, and it takes awhile for her to warm to the idea of anyone else looking after him. But she does give in because she needs to work without a yapping dog at her heels. One day finds her marching after the prancing dog holding a broken leash in one hand.

"Ponce, sit. Sit." But every time she approaches to try and catch him, the dog scrambles further back, thinking it's a game. The poor thing has spent its life with a sickly woman who never played more than tug-of-war with him. It's time to have some fun.


{ at the healing tents }
It's business as usual for this healer. Christine spents her day attending to patients, both bedridden and walk ins. When not doing that, she can be found in a tent with an opened flap, mixing up potions or poultices. It's quiet, repetitive work that leaves far too much time for thinking. Thinking about her father and the opportunity she missed to ever know him. She has gotten most of her tears out, but at times she stares off into space, tears collecting in the corners of her eyes. Sometimes Ponce can be seen sleeping on a pillow in the corner, his leash looped under a chair leg so he doesn't run away. Whenever someone enters, however, he wakes up and starts barking at the stranger.


{ creating a spirit blade }
Once she returns from visiting her mother, Christine throws herself into as much as possible, and one of those things is becoming a Knight-Enchanter. She's watched Korrin wield her blade and has seen how long her barrier can sustain itself. It's something she wants to pursue, so she makes contact with Commander Helaine and is impressed with her forward manner. She's instructed on the book to read and given two kinds of items she must collect to form her spirit blade. The reading comes first, naturally. And once she's understood everything written, she and Korrin head out to gather the supplies. First is the Exalted Plains for lazurite. No one can blame her for putting off a return to the Fallow Mire for wisp essence.


{ learning to ride a horse }
Another skill Christine wants to have is learning to ride on her own. She knows it's terribly inconvenient to always be asking others on missions to let her ride with them. Her first lesson is with one of Master Dennet's apprentices and she's grateful he starts her out on a very tame mare. She does her best to follow instructions, but can't help being stiff on the horse's back for fear of falling off. If others approach, her voice is high and breathy as if she may be in danger of passing out or at the very least shrieking at any unexpected movement.

Once the lesson is over and her feet are on solid ground again, she's more amenable to chatting and explaining why she wishes to learn.

Comments

Healing Tents - lmk if you want anything different!

[youwonscience]

Cosima is officially no longer on bedrest after her ordeal, but lyrium has a hell of a kick (especially when someone's system is weak to begin with). So she's good about coming in for follow-ups as requested. She's looking steadier, at least, if still not quite 100 percent.

She smiles, though, and makes a detour as she catches sight of Christine (and the dog). "Hey - it's been awhile. You go out and get a boyfriend since my arrival?" The barking does not seem to phase her, though she doesn't reach to pet him uninvited.

Cosima and Christine haven't exactly been in close touch, but Cosima feels strongly that the memorable circumstances under which they met gives her enough grounds to at least say hello.

[aceso]

Christine turns from her work to greet Cosima, though her expression quickly becomes puzzled at just what the woman means. Of course it clicks a moment later and her eyes dart towards the dog as she releases the sigh of the long-suffering.

"I would hope I would have better taste than such a troublemaker." Christine, what are you saying? Your taste in men is awful. "Hush, you," she says to Ponce, who seems content to ignore her and keep at it. She gets down on one knee before the dog, setting a hand on his back.

"Stop." Ponce pauses, licks his nose, and settles down, letting out one final growl that sounds like a whine coming from such a little dog.

"How are you? I heard of what happened. Such a terrible thing." But at least they're all back safe now.

[youwonscience]

Cosima's smile dims, though it doesn't completely vanish. "...thanks. Yeah, it was, uh. Rough." She seems disinclined to elaborate. "You guys patched me up pretty good, though."

And are continuing to do so.

Cosima peeks around at Ponce, trying not to restart the cascade of barking. "Where'd you acquire the troublemaker, then?"

[aceso]

"My mother. He is hers." Staying here with her doesn't mean Ponce belongs to her; oh no. She has no desire to sink to the level of dog owner. At that point, you might as well call her a Fereldan.

"She is simply unable to care for him now and I was the only one she would accept taking him."

[youwonscience]

"Ah, mothers can be like that, I guess." As much fun as teasing her about Ponce may be, under the circumstances, Cosima leaves it for now. "How've you been? I meant to look you up after I got settled in, and then somehow a couple months went by."

[aceso]

This past month has probably been one of the hardest months since the mage rebellion and escaping Orlais. She looks away for a moment, recalling the heartbreak at learning her father was dead from the Orlesian civil war before she ever had a chance to contact him again. But she isn't one to lay all that out for someone. The only ones who know are those who went to the front with her and saw her break down into tears at the news.

"It has been a trying month," is all she says before bringing her eyes back to Cosima and forcing a smile. "It is good you have settled in, though I am sure you rather wish to be home. Hopefully the Inquisition has been accommodating?"

[youwonscience]

"I can't complain about saving my life twice and giving me room, board and medical treatment," Cosima says, seemingly light but genuine even so. She doesn't know Christine well enough to press at whatever is clearly bothering her, so instead of pursuing it, she adds, "I miss home, but I'm also trying to catch up here. Who knows how long I'll be in Thedas, and it's a cop out to sit around going 'Oh, well, this doesn't matter, it's not my world.' At least I think so, anyway."

It's not as if the Inquisition's enemies are going to spare her just because she's not native; that's been made abundantly clear.

"While I'm here, I want to help."

[aceso]

"That is very generous of you," Christine replies, though to be fair, nearly all rifters agree to help in some capacity. It's the best way to keep from dying of boredom.

She releases the dog and moves to stand up again. Ponce is through warning the newcomer to watch herself and switches to sniffing her instead. He moves as far as his leash allows to sniff methodically at her feet and ankles.

"Are you in need of anything today? Is that why you are here at the healers', or merely visiting us?"

[youwonscience]

Cosima crouches to let Ponce sniff her fingers too. "I'm here for a check-up, though I feel more or less okay. But after the amount of lyrium those assholes injected into us, I can't blame you guys" - healers, generally - "for wanting to keep an eye on how we do." She glances up with a rueful smile. "It wasn't a picnic, but word on the street is that I'll make a full recovery."

Well, back to her baseline, which is not "perfectly well," but at least her abduction didn't seem to make anything worse.

[aceso]

"That I can do. Please, have a seat when you are ready." Meaning when she's done entertaining the dog. Ponce has gotten different reactions out of people. Some find him cute and want to pet him while others wrinkle their nose and ask if he's some kind of rat.

[youwonscience]

"Are you sure you're not busy? I really did just mean to say hi, not interrupt you if you were in the middle of anything." She straightens, though, leaving Ponce to investigate her boots.

[aceso]

"I was grinding herbs for potions," she says, waving a hand towards a mortar and pestle at the table. "It is not so pressing that I must return to it right now if you would rather I look you over." But the choice is Cosima's. It doesn't sound like she's overly worried about her current physical state.

[youwonscience]

"Well then, I guess while I'm here, you might as well. You need me to walk you through what you're looking at, or do you have a chart to consult? Or is that not how spirit healing works?"

She assumes all the healers know more or less what the victims had been through, but it varied a little and Cosima has the complications of a chronic illness on top of it. Then again, at least she's very well-versed in her own medical history, to the extent it's available.

[aceso]

"Why not tell what you think I should be looking for before we start," she says gently. Spirit healing can do a lot, but even it isn't a magical cure all. If it was, Asher would still be alive.

[youwonscience]

"Okay, well. I'm not a mage, I have an underlying condition that is responding to but not cured by spirit healing, which luckily did not seem to interact with the experiments except in that I arguably wore out faster than the other subjects. The hallucinations seem to have stopped, as far as I can tell. Still having nightmares, but that could be as easily the trauma as the lyrium." It's matter-of-fact, generally. Easier to think about it like a set of signs and symptoms to be reported.

[aceso]

Christine nods solemnly before saying, "Then you have been treated by the spirit healers here and I do not need to prepare you for what it looks like." Not everyone has a positive reaction to seeing glowing blue eyes.

"Let me see how your body is doing." With that said, she calls on the spirit of Faith to assist her in looking Cosima over.

[youwonscience]

Cosima exales, slow and steady. Spirit healing takes some getting used to, but she's more curious than unnerved. (In fairness, the very first time, she wasn't totally conscious for it.) This time, her body is recovering from the lyrium slowly but steadily. Her underlying chronic condition, while still present, still seems under control too. None of them came out unscathed, but Cosima was far from the worst off of those who returned.