Put on your gloves and your black pumps

[unbrokenoath]

WHO: Warden Kaisan Daesun and YOU
WHAT: Another Warden arrives and is very noisy about it.
WHEN: Current
WHERE: Places around Skyhold
NOTES: Some mild swearing probably.

The Gate

She'd been hoping that Skyhold had those huge wooden doors some fortresses had, so she could shove them open dramatically and cruise in while everyone was staring. Now, that would be pretty damn awesome. Unfortunately, Skyhold had the extremely practical iron metal gate, that you couldn't throw open dramatically. What's worse, is that before she even got close, she was greeted by scouts who politely tried to figure out why there was a tall armed woman stalking up the path to Skyhold. Exasperated as she was, she told them who she was, and gave them a list of names of Wardens who would verify her identity. Being dragged in by some very angry scouts would be indeed dramatic, but Kaisa was not in the mood to provoke quite that feeling on her entrance.

Still, Kaisa was a Warden, and she was used to working with limited resources. So she buckled up, straighted her back, and after speaking to the scouts, strode up through the gate of Skyhold, with as much swagger and confidence as if she were a reigning monarch stepping into her personal hold. She made sure that her strides were long enough that she was in front of the scouts who had come to question her. After all, this was her introduction to Skyhold, it was far more appropriate for her to be first. Her hound trailed after her, marring the cool, collected look just slightly, as he sniffed around, wagging his little stub of a tail like mad.

Once inside, she paused, hands on her hips, looking around at the courtyard, yellow eyes sharp and scrutinizing. The scouts had already dissipated, off to update necessary people that another Warden had arrived. Yes, while this wasn't quite the entrance that she had favored, she had done a good job. Now she just had to stand there looking cool and intimidating and everything.

The dog, meanwhile, flopped down, and had to be stepped around by the Warden, lest he drool on her boots.

The Herald's Rest

Well, at least this door was closed. It wasn't quite as cool as the door to a fortress, but you couldn't be picky. So, once again, she straightened up and put a knowing little smile on her face, then proceeded to throw open the door. Yes.

For a few moments, she stood there, standing in the doorway, looking around the tavern. Then she turned on her heel, swaggering on over to the bar and plopping down, grinning at the bartender (who didn't look nearly as amused as he ought to, really). She placed her order and sat back against the bar, eyeing the tavern. In her opinion, gathering spots like this were vital to picking up the atmosphere of the place, and even if she hadn't managed to impress a bunch of people and look really cool, at the least, she could try to get a feel for just what kind of place this Inquisition was.

If she was going to be working with them until this whole Warden mess got sorted out, it would be important to know how the people here felt.

Battlements

No need for cool entrances at this point. Having settled in for the long haul, Kaisa decided to take in Skyhold as a whole, and leisurely made her way around the battlements. Every so often she'd stop, observing the comings and goings within the hold, or eyeballing the mountains outside of it. She wasn't much for grand plans and strategies of large battles, so she couldn't make any expert assessment on Skyhold's fortifications. But she knew enough, she was pretty sure. At the least, she'd been to enough fortresses that she had some idea of what was a good one, and what wasn't.

Judging from what she's seen, and how long this has been standing, it strikes her as pretty good.

As she wanders, she hums to herself, mind not focused on who might be listening. Other Wardens might recognize the tune, but those who have never heard the Calling will only hear an eerie jingle, something unlike any music composed by a person.

Comments

battlements;

[foxsays]

By now Skyhold is more than accustomed to people climbing the walls rather literally. There are even lessons on how to learn such a skill to stave off the other kind of climbing the walls because even if everyone needs a little time to relax, it doesn't help the feeling that you're sitting around doing nothing when people are out there and need your help.

Today it's just the instructor climbing the walls as a fox comes strolling along without a care in the world, orange and black fur fluffed against the cold. Every so often he appears to be poking his head over the edge to look down to the courtyard before he yips, tail wagging.

Right on cue, a young woman pops up and over the edge of the battlements from below, hauling herself over to hop to her feet with a grin.

"Snow, snow, and oh look! More snow!" Several months her and the view is honestly getting somewhat grating in her opinion.

[unbrokenoath]

There's a fox on the battlements.

Kaisa stares at it as it approaches on its merry way, no fear of a dog or an arrow striking it down, and she's glad that her dog is off exploring the hold on his own. Kaisa has to guess that this is either the bravest fox in the world, the dumbest, or has a person looking after him.

Right as she's thinking that, just such a person appears from the wall, and Kaisa is pretty sure there wasn't a ladder there, and she had to lean over to edge to check because how did she do that. The Warden is not, if you couldn't tell from the heavy metal armor and massive sword, much of a climber. But she's not entirely sure that even a climbing kind of soul could manage such a feat.

But the strange, possibly half-bird woman is quite pretty, so she lets it go in favor of leaning against the battlements with a grin. "Well, my view has improved, at least." She tells the other woman cheerily. "If foxes are in the habit of summoning forth beautiful women, I think I've been in the wrong market for a pet all along."

[foxsays]

A fox that survives his owner hoisting him up on her shoulders to climb buildings, racing through what few streets there are to follow her on the rooftop as guards shoot at her is a fox with little fear.

"A good day to you," she says after a little puff to get herself up and on her feet, dusting herself off before she can get a proper look. Tall - though most everyone is tall compared to her - and clearly strong judging from the weapons and armour. All very impressive, especially to someone preferring lighter everything on her person.

"And mine as well, there are too few beautiful ladies upon the battlements to distract me from mountains, mountains, and what could that be? More mountains. Until now I was rich in many boring views." Well no, that's a lie because her cup runneth over with stunning women in Skyhold but usually all she does is frighten soldiers that try to tell her off but never really manage it. As for the fox? Well he might have stationed himself, looking as fluffed up as possible, tail wagging, eyes hopeful. "What can I say, like myself he has developed a taste for the finer things in life, and beautiful women are an especially great weakness."

[unbrokenoath]

"Do you have a personal opposition to stairs, or is there something shifty about them that someone forgot to tell the hapless newcomer?" Kaisa looks amused either way, one eyebrow raised as she gave a second look at the wall Araceli had just scaled. Also impressive, even if Kaisa couldn't imagine a particular reason one would eschew stairs without reason.

But oh, she's flirting back, and Kaisa can't help but grin, looking incredibly pleased with both herself and the situation at hand. She'd only been here a little while and already things were looking better. Literally and figuratively.

"Mountains aren't very considerate in that manner. Stubborn lot they are, immobile and all. Ladies are much more thoughtful. So thank you." She ambles on over to close the distance between them, so she can first hold a fist to her chest, and give a short bob of the head to Araceli, then hold her hand out to the fox. "A creature after my own heart. Warden Kaisa Daesun, at both you and your furry friend's service."

[foxsays]

"Stairs are boring." That's honestly the answer, because if she can take the fun way or the dull way, she'll always opt to take the fun way up. Stairs are usually indoors for her too and with the absence of barge poles and bridges, she needs a real form of excitement to keep her from getting into trouble or losing the will to live in the library.

No one ever said Araceli couldn't keep flirting, besides she has eyes to see in her head and is of the opinion that not complimenting people is a form of rudeness so she drops into a bow as is customary. At least for her. Possibly Antivans, she hasn't completely checked how much of a flourish they do things with.

"Araceli Bonaventura at your service. And Lux." His paw is offered because you can't have a fox and have him be utterly without manners. "Skyhold is better for your arrival, has anyone shown you around yet? Not that there's much to see unless crumbling roofs and walls are your thing."

[unbrokenoath]

"Well, I guess it's hard to argue with that." Stairs were not exactly exciting, no. Kaisa wasn't one to turn down exciting things, but stairs? She thought on it, and shrugged. She's pretty sure she's not going to get around to scaling any walls any time soon. She certainly doesn't mind the flirting though--it's her favorite way to communicate with other people. She won't make any rash assumptions about Araceli's actual interest, unless it's laid out clearly one way or the other.

"Well, I feel all aflutter. I'm feeling better for such a greeting." She laughs at the polite manners of the little fox, and takes his paw, giving it a very dignified kiss. Then petting his head. What a cutie. At the offer to show her around, she nods, glancing over what bits of Skyhold she can see from the walls.

"Well, I've been in the Deep Roads enough to be an expert at crumbling everything. But I wouldn't mind a quick tour, if you've got any real interesting locations I might like to know. Where a tired Warden might get a drink or sleep, for instance." And hopefully, where the rest of the Wardens were drinking and sleeping.

[foxsays]

"Skyhold has few charms, unless you actually enjoy almost pulling every muscle in your backside hiking up as parts of you freeze." Though this woman is tall, not Vashoth tall but certainly taller than most women Araceli knows, so the hike might not have been so torturous for her as it was for smaller legs. Lux's eyes go wide though, eyes perking up and forward, clearly in rapture.

A liar, to pretend he's not spoiled with such behaviour at all times, a rogue and a cad, she couldn't be more proud.

"The Deep Roads? Where would those be, I have heard no tales of them yet." Nor has she come across them in her reading, or not that she recalls yet but the Grey Warden part, that she does know about. A little. From Zevran. So you know, pretty much what fits in a thimble. "You are a Grey Warden then? I have heard a little of what your order does, but if you seek a drink, you go to the Herald's Rest and you can get a meal there too though Skyhold has kitchens of their own. The head cook is a terrible woman, avoid her at all costs. Sleeping is less clear, if you can claim a place? Claim it fast."

And from the long slow approving look she gives Kaisa, she doubts the woman would have any trouble managing that.

[unbrokenoath]

Kaisa has a dog, and she knows the kind of knavery they can sink to. However, it hardly matters that she knows that she's being played, because she falls for it anyway, and keeps petting his head as she speaks to Araceli. It is a weakness. If the darkspawn ever figure out how to harness the power of canines being cute, she will be a very dead Warden.

"The Deep Roads? How can you--Oh, are you one of those people who went and dropped outta a rift?" She pauses for a moment, looking Araceli up and down. But her expression stays calm, almost disappointed. Not even a single tentacle. "I heard about that whole thing. Sorry about your shitty luck an' all. I had a hard time adjusting to Orlais, I can't imagine a whole different world. But as for the Deep Roads--" She paused, clicking her tongue thoughtfully.

"You know about Grey Wardens, you probably know about darkspawn? And I figure you must've seen a dwarf or two while you've been here, I've already nearly tripped over a couple. The Deep Roads are the remnants of the dwarven kingdom from before the Blights. Used t' be, they ran under nearly all of Thedas. Then the darkspawn came from deep within the earth, and nearly wiped out the entire dwarf kingdom. Orzammar is all that's left. That, and a lot of underground roads that are all crumbling and old as shit. Wouldn't recommend going on a tour though, most of them are used by darkspawn these days."

She makes a face. "And they're miserable in general. Even with how much room there is, it ends up feeling claustrophobic. Nothing grows but deep mushrooms, no sunlight, nothing but crumbling ruins and darkspawn."

Kaisa shakes her head, as if to mentally shake out the imagery she was conjuring. "But on to more pleasant topics! I am, as you've probably puzzled out by now, a Grey Warden. And I thank you for the information. I'm sure if I'm not fast enough, I can probably convince someone to share a bed." She winks at Araceli without shame. "Or just suplex them. That's just as fun, really."

[foxsays]

The worst sort of conmen to exist really though he’s very good at distracting guards with his utter cuteness as Araceli sneaks in and out with the loot.

“Guilty as charged,” and she just about manages to keep any bitterness out of her voice when she raises her left hand, wiggling her fingers. She’d actually be charmed by a tentacle but well, grow up in a place where the friendly neighbourhood giant squid live in the waterways and help out and you’re sort of biased. Nothing cuter than petting little baby squidlets on a lazy day feeding them some of your leftover lunch from the market. “It could be much worse, I mean it could be better; I could be in Antiva or Rivain, or somewhere close to the sea where I don’t have to hike up a mountain and blind myself with snow each day but beggars can’t be choosers, eh?”

This is fine, everything is fine, she’ll just one day have a real proper breakdown instead of the little ones she’s had in private when she can’t hold back the tears. Everything is just fine.

“I always wish to know more, understanding of a place can only help.” It’s a place where her notes are so very thin yet there are many Grey Wardens here, that she knows, so it’s definitely been on her list for some time now. That she can hear of it from a beautiful woman at the same time is a lucky bonus. She nods along to the bits she knows, unable to stop her eyes from going wide. “An empire beneath the earth! That was what my people had but beneath the sea! Were there many of them? These Darkspawn? People call it a Blight but when there’s no magic where I am from, I didn’t know what exactly that meant, why the Darkspawn are considered to be such fearsome creatures though I did not doubt that those who fight them must be selfless and courageous, to give their all to such a thing.”

And to do it in the dark, to go so far into the belly of the world itself? She couldn’t do that, the only thing worse than being so high would be beneath, low, surrounded by stone and in the dark.

“I cannot imagine that, I have always lived by the sea, out on the deck of a ship. And you are so tall! Does your head not brush the ceiling? How do you even draw your weapon in such a place!” Hopefully Kaisa won’t be put off by the strange bouncing sort of enthusiasm Araceli’s showing but she can’t help herself when it’s been a while since she learned something so new and so strange about Thedas. Information is always exciting to her, as is getting to tell the rifters something interesting next time she meets any of them.

“I would pay to see you suplex someone.” Not even kidding, she would be embarrassingly into that. “But I won’t lie, there are plenty here who are handsome and beautiful and willing for a woman such as you, I would offer but the one I share my bed with? Well she prefers to only share with me, if you take my meaning.” Araceli is allowed a wandering eye and a teasing mouth but she’s trying something new for Korrin and well, her lovers back home are still very much in her heart as well so to her mind, things haven’t changed, just shifted, just a little.

[unbrokenoath]

"Orlais is pretty bottom of the barrel if you ask me, but, I mean. Could've been Tevinter." Kaisa scowls, in a way that hints that while her jabs at Orlais may be light-hearted, she's quite serious about Tevinter being worse case scenario for Araceli. Kaisa can imagine the fate of someone who dropped out of a rift in there--Enslaved to some magister, probably experimented on to the void and back again.

Talking about the darkspawn is a more comfortable subject. Even if she doesn't like them, she's familiar with them. "I...don't know how many darkspawn there are. There seems to be an unlimited number of them. I mean--Shit." She started to think of one thing to say, which led to another explanation, and another. After a few moments, she just shakes her head. "Let's sit down. If I'm gonna tell you, I'm gonna tell you right." Luckily, there were meeting rooms sprinkled throughout the ramparts, and Kaisa strolls into one of them, grabs a chair, and plops down.

"There are a thousand different explanations for what the darkspawn are, where they come from. I'm just gonna give you the facts. This is kinda long winded, sorry. Anyway, what we know is that the darkspawn spend most of their time in the Deep Roads looking for archdemons. Uh--This is a good time to say that the Deep Roads aren't like normal tunnels. They're--I mean, there are some side tunnels that you have to take that are pretty small, but the Deep Roads proper are plenty roomy. You could stack qunari on top of each other. Anyway, these archdemons--plenty of explanations as to what they were, but here are the facts: They look like tainted dragons, and when they wake up, they lead the darkspawn out of the Deep Roads, and a Blight starts. And the thing about Blights that make them so goddamn dangerous?"

Her face is, for the first time throughout the conversation, very serious. Not angry or grim, just stating the facts of the situation. "The only way to stop the darkspawn is to kill the archdemon. Blights will go on until then, the average time length is about a decade or so. For that period of time, the darkspawn just keep showing up. Killing the archdemon makes the remaining darkspawn go back to the Deep Roads. That's how a Blight ends. You don't defeat the darkspawn, they just...go away." It's a grim thought, and she knows that these thoughts are how the Wardens are in the situation that they're in right now.

"So...that's the situation with Blights. And Wardens are the only ones who can kill archdemons. Which is why we're so damn important, and cool." She grins, her good cheer slowly being restored by praising the Order that she loved so dearly. "The Wardens are one of the best organizations in Thedas. Not only are we what stands between Thedas and the Blight, but the Wardens have the most generous recruiting policies. We take anyone, and I mean anyone. Any race, any walk of life, any crimes. We can use the Rite of Conscription to pull people from death sentences. If, you know, they would prefer being a Warden to dying. I joined because they were the only people who don't care that I'm elf-blooded."

It's said with the same calm explanation, with no real pause. Years ago she might have hesitated. But the Wardens made such revelations safe. Kaisa does stop after the reveal, glancing at Araceli thoughtfully. "I figure you've already seen at least some of the way elves are treated in Thedas. Something a little less obvious is the elf-blooded. Half-elves. If an elf and a human have a child, the baby looks, for all the world, like a human. I mean, look at me." There are some signs, if you know what you're looking for--the shape of her eyes and their sharp color, the delicate cheekbones that don't quite match the rest of her Amazonian build, and such things. But at a glance, it's doubtful anyone would reach the conclusion on their own.

"But the kicker is, most humans hate elves so damn much that even just having an elf parent is seen as a huge stigma. It's not as bad as actually being an elf, but--It's pretty shitty. So you got two options: Lie or struggle with a real limited number of options for your life. I got tired of lying. So now I'm a Warden." She laughs, leaning back, and running a hand through her hair. "Goddamn, I'm sorry about all of that. Like I said, if I'm gonna explain, I'm gonna do it right."

[foxsays]

“Or where the Qunari come from,” she adds almost cheerfully because you know what, she would rather laugh about this sort of thing when she can. There are a lot of places here where terrible things could happen even when she knows that if the reverse occurred, if people fell from Thedas to her home? It’d be the cells. Which is cruel to her but there’s nothing on the same level. Maybe some ships might’ve just tossed them overboard but even Zimevur would’ve kept them and fed them. Probably prodded them. Sharply. Insistently. Let them bake in the sun a bit. Still better than maybe getting her mouth sewn shut.

So she follows, moving quickly to keep up with long legs - rude, who needs legs that long? - with Lux chasing after them both. Araceli of course sits on her chair wrong, perched on the back, feet flat where her backside should be but soon enough Lux is curled on top of them. This is normal enough that she doesn’t seem to bother shifting him when he yawns hugely. Real stories don’t interest Lux unless food happens. The last time she got told something properly it was Bruce Banner, both her feet on the ground and worrying about her hand, something more tangible and real. Which might be weird considering they were discussing magic and the Fade but when your hand literally has a piece of that in it? It feels a hell of a lot more real. She’s good at listening, at nodding along even as her brow furrows. Actual roads then which...well it’s less claustrophobic to be certain but still, it has her shivering and tugging her coat a little tighter about herself. None of what she hears is good; they are certainly brave to go alone but that cannot be all, to vanquish such beasts.

“The last Blight was...ten or so years ago? From what I have heard from the people here yet it cannot have lasted nearly so long or they would only just have been defeating it. And you say tainted, but tainted by what? A dragon sounds fearsome enough just in stories, and I have become accustomed to thinking that most of the beasts in this world wish to devour me or tear me apart but you say tainted. You say blight. Is there magic involved in this?” Even in her world there are stories about curses but the only people who believe much in them don’t come from her home, and tend to think that their fears won’t cross so much water to come for them in another country.

“And you don’t go after them? Or cave them in so the ones inside can’t get out and the others can’t get in then finish them off? Or do you not have explosives strong enough?” Maybe magic wouldn’t work that way either, maybe she’s just too used to great hulking cannons on all sorts of ships that she just assumed it was a simple enough thing for people to have and to use. For a moment longer she’s quiet, careful and considering, not frowning but instead looking distant. It’s a lot to take in at once, she’ll need to go to library, come back, find a few more people. Something like that. “Surely not all can be happy with you taking prisoners out from under them, I know of many sentences passed where those in charge considered death to be the only fitting outcome.”

And wait, that’s a new thing. “Elf-blooded? I...I didn’t even know elves and humans could have children together, no one told me that! I know that the elves lost their home, twice, I think? I think it was twice. I’ve heard things from friends here, like one wasn’t allowed up on the deck of the ship she came here on and had to stay in the hold instead but no one told me. Of course that is normal to them but to me there are only humans. Humans from Castileos, Albas, Zimevur, Ebeos, Estene, Corundus but still: human. Nothing else. Look she does though, because she’s been invited to and it’s no hardship and yes, there are things that would be more suited to the faces of Pel, Ellana, Sina, though she would have to strip the Vallaslin away to make it match better.

“It isn’t quite the same but outside of my home, having a whore or a pirate for a parent? Everyone has ideas. That you’re going to rob them blind,” which she wouldn’t do, she steals what she needs really, “or that you’ve got loose morals? I have no idea why everyone seems to think that one but my country is known for both so many of us stay in our country or we sail where at least we aren’t really there with people saying such things about us.”

Having both of them and you’re basically a little bit fucked.

“I did ask though, and I would rather know that not know.”