faderift | [Open] Rise Up, Rise Up.

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[Open] Rise Up, Rise Up.

WHO: Katniss Everdeen and Yours
WHAT: Falling, and climbing back up again. In many ways
WHEN: Rest of Wintermarch
WHERE: The stables, the ramparts, the staircases, the healing tents.
NOTES: It's Katniss. You know there's going to be something.

Katniss has been taking all her lessons seriously, but the ones she had been working on most were the rogue lessons - lessons in climbing and sneaking in and out of places. Knife throwing into all kinds of targets. Climbing up and down buildings, and quite literally falling off of them.

No one was quite sure what she was training so hard for -- but then most of them had not been to the Emprise du Lion. They had not seen the cages. Katniss was not going to throw away their only chance to save those people, so whatever she needed to know? She would do.

So don't be surprised if she drops in on you, as she falls back into piles of hay or down in a leap.

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The weather in Skyhold is nice and temperate, so Ellana spends as much time outside as possible. Today she sits on the ground with a book spread across her lap. The library has so many great resources, but the light inside is far too dim to see by for long periods of time. Engrossed with the page she's reading, she's practically startled out of her skin when a body lands in the hay beside her. Instinct takes over, and with a cry, the book goes flying, Ellana scrambles to crouch on her haunches, and a hand is outstretched to cast a barrier over herself, even without the help of her staff.

But then she sees it's Katniss and the urge to bolt ebbs away to be replaced with concern.

"Are you all right?"

All right, that had .... not been one of her best falls. She lay there for a moment, trying to catch her breath as it had been knocked out of her. She sucked in a shuddering breath as her lungs started to work again, and jerked up half-way, before falling back into the hay again.

"... Been worse." She finally managed to gasp out.

"Oh, don't move anymore. I'll get a healer!" Once again, Ellana is cursing herself for not knowing any healing spells. Why doesn't she learn some already? She pushes herself up to her feet, intent on finding help for her friend.

"No, no wait! Ellana, I'm fine..." Katniss wheezed a little, as she finally managed to get into a seated position, "Just had the air knocked out of me, is all."

Edited 2016-01-21 22:40 (UTC)

Ellana hesitates, then moves to take a seat on the ground beside her. "What happened?" she asks, face etched with a concerned expression. Her eyes lift, trying to see from where Katniss fell.

"Oh, I forgot to breath out before I fell." She carefully rolled herself to her feet, shaking hay out of her hair again as she looked up to the tower. "I think I got a little thrown by the sight of the scaffolding - I didn't want to hit it. I caught a breath, missed it by a mile, and ... just had all the air knocked out of me."

Ellana frowns, and starts to piece things together. She knows that plenty around Skyhold have been practicing their falling. Something to do with Araceli teaching them to climb. Since Ellana herself climbed onto the crumbling roof of the Avvar's stronghold in the Fallow Mire, she knows it's a good skill to learn. If she had fallen off, she wouldn't have fared too well.

"As long as you'll really be all right," Ellana concedes, looking back and noticing her book in the dirt. With a gasp, she grabs it, trying to brush off the dirt and unbend the bent pages.

"Oh, no. Do you think they'll notice when I return this to the library? And I've been so careful with the books I take out too!" It really worries her that people will think she doesn't know proper library etiquette because she's Dalish. She's observed enough to know the proper way to treat books! This is just an accident.

"I'll be fine, honest. I've got to remember to trust the fall." Katniss sighed as she straightened and stretched. As Ellana gasped, she turned around, looking for a threat -- but Ellana was worried about the book.

Which frankly, was not a bad thing to be worried about. Katniss moved towards her and the volume, "Oh Creators ... well, the dirt's not too bad." She frowned at the bent pages, before snapping her fingers, "You know what, we just need a rock and a few hours time. You can put the rock on the book and it will force the pages to flatten out."

She shakes her head, "And I'll tell them it's my fault. You weren't careless with the book, I was careless with my fall." Books are a precious commodity. She would feel horrible if Ellana couldn't access them.

"A rock could work," Ellana agrees, brushing away the last of the dirt and closing the book, holding it up to check the dent. Closed, the pages are flattened, but not quite enough to undo the damage.

"Maybe they'll understand. It was an accident, and it's still fine to read. It's not like I dropped it into a fire, right?"

"Here, let me grab one ... " Ah, there we go. Giant stone, right off this wall. She turned around, hefting the thing in both hands. Ooof.

"They'd better." Is her grim response. "I will sock anyone who says you can't have a book because of my damned training."

A pause, and a sigh. "... No, I will not sock them. I will calmly get them to let you use books again with my words."

Ellana quickly sets down her book to allow Katniss to flatten it down for her. Her eyes flicker over to her friend's face and she looks worried for an instant before Katniss amends her statement.

"That would be for the best, lethallan. That way neither of us becomes banned from the library."

Katniss puts the stone carefully down on the book, making sure it's centered on where the pages need to be flattened. She puts her hands on her hips, glancing over at Ellana, and Ellana's expression and statement make her look sheepish.

"We really can't have that." She breathes in deeply. "Violence is not the answer ... not always the answer." A sigh, as she rubbed her forehead, "You know, I wasn't aware I was this ... angry."

Sitting back on her heels, Ellana looks Katniss over carefully before answering.

"Why do you think you are angry?" If Katniss admits to it, Ellana won't tell her she isn't. But she does want to see if she can do anything to help her.

Katniss leaned against the cool stone of the tower she just tumbled off of, gnawing on her bottom lip as she considered Ellana's question. Her arms folded over her chest, almost protectively, as she spoke.

"A lot of reasons, I suppose. I don't like how elves are treated like second class citizens. I don't like how the poor are spat down upon. I don't like how half-blooded anything is seen as 'dirty' and 'wrong'." She paused, her mouth twisting, "I guess you could say - I'm angry because the world isn't right, and I don't have the power to do anything about it but be angry."

"Personally, I prefer to use my power to be disappointed, not angry. Being angry doesn't accomplish much beyond small-minded people thinking they're right about the elves: that we're all savages. If I lash out with violence, they think they've proved their point. If I lash out with wit, they realize they've made fools of themselves in front of everyone." Morrigan recently taught Ellana that, and she's taken it to heart. The next time someone accuses her of something awful because of who or what she is, she will try her best to outwit them in front of others and make them regret ever messing with her.

Katniss looks at her with interest at that, grey eyes narrowing thoughtfully as she pressed her lips together. "And ... how exactly would I do that? I'm not actually that, uhm, witty." At least not like Ellana or Pel. She could talk, certainly, but she lacked ... what was it? Dramatic flair.

"Oh, well, I have a friend who I always like to be witty with." Alistair has been great practice for her, before she even realized she should practice this sort of thing. "But I can't say I'm any sort of expert on wit. You could practice if you want, or find other ways. I'm sure it doesn't always have to be wit. Pointing out that name calling or insults is what the cowardly turn to first might shame them."

Katniss gnawed on her bottom lip, because there was one friend she had like that. Several, but those were people she was comfortable with. People she knew wouldn't turn around and try to ruin her. "... Just be willing to take the higher road, and point out how idiotic they are being?"

Ellana nods. "I think they're not so different from children. There is always a bully who is lashing out because of things they can't control. And as long as there is someone to hurt, they'll keep doing it. But if they see they can't get anywhere, then they stop." Adults would stop because they would realize they've made themselves look foolish, and few will come out and support someone who has lashed out and made a fool of themselves in front of everyone.

She nodded her head because, well honestly, Ellana was right. Everyone who had been telling her these things were right, after all. Words were words, and all they were trying to do was bully her with them.

Don't react. Smile. Fold the rage in and focus on what was important. Which was winning this damned war.

"Smile. Ignore. Work on my calm." She nodded her head, "... I think I can do that."

"I know you can. You are working on your rogue skills, right?" As the recent fall Katniss had taken suggests to her. "Rogues are very good at being sneaky. They can make people believe whatever they want. You'll be able to smile in the face of it all."

"I am -- some of them are going to need more work than others." She made a face, before she pressed her lips together. "All right. I can ... work with that."

Ellana's smile is encouraging, coupled with a slight nod. "I believe in you," she reiterates. "You can do whatever you put your mind to." Katniss has a strong personality, and is far from a quitter. Whatever the task ahead, she'll put in the hard work to succeed.

Katniss's lips curved into a warm smile - yes, this one was utterly sincere - before her chin lifted a little. "Thank you, Ellana. It ... means a great deal, to have people believe in me."

"I think it's that way for everyone. We all wish for people to believe in us and our potential. And you'll always have that in me." She nods towards her book. "Look at how clever you are. I wouldn't have thought to use a rock. I would have tried to fold back each page by hand."

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