{ OPEN } May there always be angels to watch over you

[aceso]

WHO: Christine Delacroix and OPEN!
WHAT: She's getting used to being a Spirit Healer and having a friend on the other side.
WHEN: any time after Drakonis 17th until month's end.
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: Christine has a spirit of Faith in communication with her. It will be observing the world around her and asking her questions. If your character is having a crisis of faith, doubts, etc. Faith may nudge Christine towards your character to see if she can be of help, but she won't know what exactly is the matter without your character telling her. Also, Faith will just be really curious in general. Have your character dance a jig, lose at cards, mend a shirt, whatever, and Faith will be wanting to know more.

{ anywhere }
When she thinks back on it, Christine knows that the reason the spirit of Faith approached her in the Fade is because Christine had visited the chapel before her test, trying to erase her doubts. But it was having doubt that caught Faith's attention and cemented their relationship. It's hard for a perfectionist like her to admit that there are times when she isn't sure of herself because it's admitting to weakness. Yet already Faith is changing her perceptions. There can be no faith without doubt. If Christine was perfect in every way, she wouldn't need a spirit to help with her ability to heal. Faith is needed, because doubt is inevitable. Questioning things, missteps, complications -- Faith is drawn to it all, and as Christine sticks to her daily routine around Skyhold, she often feels the gentle nudge of her spirit companion against her mind, sending her towards a person.

Of course, Faith doesn't always use words and simply say why it's guiding Christine towards a person. Is it because they no longer believe in the Maker, or because Faith wants to know what they're doing with that rope, tankard, and a duck?

{ kitchens }
With the soiree over, Christine can head back into the kitchens to practice her cooking once more without Skyhold's cooking staff at their wit's end trying to get all the food prepared in time. Some days she makes bread, others she makes pie. Others still it's something completely different, but if anyone comes in looking for a snack, she invites them to be her taste tester.

{ healers' tents }
Just because she's now a Spirit Healer doesn't mean Christine is going to request the help of Faith for every little scrape and cut. The point is to use the spirit's power for much more complicated wounds, to save the healer's mana. So there are no glowing blue eyes to be found as Christine sees to patients. When the rifters arrive, she's available to use healing magic to lessen the ache in their hands until they get used to the shard, and is happy to fill them in on the world they've been dropped into. For anyone else, she's there to heal them with magic or bandages; whichever they'd prefer.

Comments

[aceso]

It's no surprise to Christine that Faith whispers against her mind to head for the chapel at times. When she spoke with Faith in the Fade, Christine made it clear that she wanted their relationship to be one where the spirit would help her heal physical injuries only, and she went into great detail as to what that meant. Knowing that Faith would be drawn to those who were struggling or having doubts, Christine didn't want to pry into the private lives of others or try to involve herself in their mental health. Had she not been clear in their arrangement, Faith would have grown agitated that Christine was not somehow healing people's minds and that could warp the spirit into a demon.

And yet despite this, when Faith feels someone losing their own personal faith, it nudges Christine. It knows she cannot and will not heal these people of their doubts, but it is its very nature to want to reach out. Christine agreeing to look in on them is a courtesy; a gesture to show Faith she values it and will do this for it.

And so when she feels that urging to head to the chapel, she does so, stopping inside the doorway.

"Forgive me," she says softly. "Am I interrupting?"

[unharrowed]

Christine will see the young elf kneeling in front of the altar, dressed in robes of the Ferelden Circle... who is sniffing, and wiping at the underside of her nose with her knuckles, just in case.

She'd heard the footsteps approaching, but it had only given her so much time to pull herself together.

"No. Not at all," she says, looking over her shoulder — assuming the woman wants to make use of the chapel herself. Vasran gestures to a space nearby, silently inviting.

[aceso]

Christine came and knelt down beside the elf.

"It is a difficult time for us all," she said gently. "I hope you have an outlet for your thoughts, whatever they may be."

[unharrowed]

Vasran let a sigh out, frustrated but conceding. She'd been caught. It wouldn't do her any favors to pretend at something other than the truth.

She looked up at the statue in front of them, her eyes flicking back and forth, searching.

"We always have the Maker." Even as she said it, though, she had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. She didn't really believe that — not in the way she'd meant it. The Maker watched over them, and perhaps He listened, but when He answered, He did not always do so in ways that could be comprehended.

Okay, Vasran. Try again — this time with feeling.

"At least, that's what they tell us," she went on, folding her hands together in her lap. "I don't think the Chant includes anything about ancient darkspawn blowing a hole in the sky."

[aceso]

Christine's thoughts weren't far off from Vasran's. She would have snorted had it not been unladylike. The Maker was supposed to love and accept all his children, yet the Chant had to include that line about magic serving man, which gave people the excuse to treat mages terribly. There should have been another line about the Maker's children not being abhorrent to each other.

"Not that I've heard," she answered. "I imagine we would have been better prepared had we known to look out for it. But, no. I think if speaking to the Maker brings no relief, speaking to other people might help. Though probably not a Chantry sister." She offers a smile. "She would just steer you back towards the Maker."

[unharrowed]

"Or Andraste." Vasran still felt a positive, if tenuous, connection to the Maker's prophet. She had been adrift for a long time before being called to the Maker's side.

Still, the Chantry ways weren't entirely doing the trick at the moment. A fellow mage, on the other hand...

"I'm Vasran." She barely remembered to toss in her name before getting to the personal question. "Which Circle were you at? Somewhere in Orlais?" Just guessing by the accent.

[aceso]

"Christine," she replies, as Faith brushes against her mind, wanting to help the woman. It's not part of the arrangement she has with the spirit, but she's here and she might as well talk to the elf to see if it does any good.

"Yes, I was at Montsimmard." A Circle that was far tamer than most, she knows, but still a prison in its own way. She's glad to be out of it. "And from where do you come, Vasran?"

[unharrowed]

"Kinloch." And all that that implies. Still, there's a note of wistfulness in Vasran's voice. She misses it.

[aceso]

Christine does miss the great library at Montsimmard, but little else. It's difficult to be a part of a Circle that plays the Grand Game; mages stepping over one another in foolish displays, hoping to become a noble's little pet. Especially difficult when you want no part of that world. She can't say she misses many people there.

"And when did you join the Inquisition?"

[unharrowed]

Vasran relaxes a little as she turns further toward Christine, no longer kneeling so much as sitting.

"Just about a month ago," she says with a nod. "I came in with a caravan from the Hinterlands — not far from Redcliffe."

[aceso]

"Oh, I was in Redcliffe before joining the Inquisition," Christine says, unsure if Vasran considers herself to be one of the "rebel" mages or not. Christine really doesn't like being labeled as such. To stand up against a corrupt system and want freedom is hardly rebelling. What matters is your actions in doing do, and Christine can safety say she never attacked any innocents in her quest for freedom.