faderift | open; Give me a field, give me a big sky

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open; Give me a field, give me a big sky

WHO: Araceli, Morrigan, Asher and you
WHAT: Catch-all for Bloomingtide
WHEN: Bloomingtide (post-5th Bloomingtide for Araceli)
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: A proper catch-up for all three characters below with specific starters and some open headers, if you'd like something specific feel free to hit me up! If you'd like a backdated thing for Araceli or Morrigan, let me know and I'll sort that too, I know I've been gone for a fair bit sorry!
Araceli's threads will all be post 5th Bloomingtide when she gets back from her mission in Antiva!
For some ooc details on Morrigan things, please see here, a rookery post will go up shortly for research helpers!
Warnings for talk of violence, blood and language in Asher's threads.

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"Has anyone told you you're fucking awesome?"

It just sort of comes out, but he's not going to take it back. Since it's true. Every time he sees her, she's got some new skill she's perfected that bowls him over. Parkouring pirate lockpick aristocrat fox-whisperer singer lutist gunslinger with a good head on her shoulders, a good rack on her chest, a good laugh in her throat, and a scary-but-entertaining giant girlfriend. w o w

Of course she'd do well here. And he just skates along. The mention of Marcel sucks, really sucks, because he definitely got it, and now the Rifters are left kind of rudderless.

"I get helping the Inquisition. I do. Cuz there's all these people who are displaced and don't have anywhere else to go. And supposedly the ones in charge are fighting the good fight. Fighting demons is always good. But I don't like the idea of having to fight for them just at their say-so when I obviously don't get what all's going on here. It's more than just demons from sky-holes. I'll...do what I can. But it's not for the Seeker, or any of them."

Maybe that's kind of weirdly noble of him, but protecting people is at least a little bit his thing. (He's just...typically bad at it.) "I think we should try to head up Rifter meetings again. Honestly I'd feel more comfortable if we as a group were more aware of each other than Seeker Gotta-Interrogate-Em-All. Next time shit happens, we can have a voice. And maybe make sure we keep people like Galadriel from doing stupid shit. Work with the natives to do good and fit in...but also make sure we're allowed to exist without being afraid someone's gonna shank us for being different or falling out of the sky."

"Korrin tells me at least three times a day but I never tire of hearing it." And there's just enough sincerity because of her youth and her laughter that she manages not to sound smug, giggling at the end, a few quiet notes coming from the lute when she jostles it. "All of us that are here though who came through the rifts? We all must be if we haven't gone mad and we managed to survive. Everything they've told me about magic, the Fade, the veil, the rifts, all the things I've been reading...just surviving that…"

She shakes the thoughts away, not wanting them to intrude when she's happy, not after thinking about it too much when Korrin and Sina were sick.

"I know. There hasn't been a single war at all where I come from in living memory, and fighting seems to be all Thedas does, it just lurches and lumbers from one crisis to the next without stopping to examine why it keeps fighting. I know at least one person who I think was worried she might not have a choice to close the rifts and I said then that we should seem willing, given the situation that we're in. Even though natives have shards? After Galadriel, after the interrogations, after everything, it is very easy for them to close ranks and even if we do have allies, we can't do that when there are so many innocent lives that do depend upon the Inquisition as the only force actually doing something because it's always the commonfolk who are forgotten, just like in Emprise du Lion when Red Templars had them in cages bound for quarries to mine red lyrium. Seeker Pentaghast is a blunt instrument, and I think she is frightened. That is a dangerous thing in a leader."

In truth, she knows that the Seeker must be grieving for the young woman lost but she cannot believe how bad she is at doing her job when she just throws people in cells like that, when she doesn't even listen, snapping and snarling like a child the instant she hears something she dislikes. What he says next makes her smile a little sadly because she hasn't said anything but her path has strayed from what it was; finding a new life as a bard, what Galadriel had done, the divisions she knows will be present, Obi-Wan blundering in as he had. Marcel is gone too, her partner in all this. "I have other obligations now, I am afraid, but I can come to a meeting to hand over the notes I have taken. There is another around my age, a little younger perhaps, she goes by Hermione Granger and I already gave her a copy but...but I have made a commitment to the Nightingale now. To work for her. It would do her, myself, and all of you a disservice to try to split my time between you all." To soften the blow, she reaches out for his hand, squeezing tight with as much of a smile as she can muster because she didn't want it to come to this and she's still angry and hurt that it did, that her hand was forced the way it was. "I hope we will still be friends."

There's a lot to unpack there, from Araceli never having known war to her choosing a primary identity other than Rifter. He didn't even think that was an option. And it's not something he can hide, not for long, with trying. He's just too different, and she's...not. She fits in better than he does, here.

And some of them really don't want anything to do with the other Rifters. He gets that. ...No, he doesn't get that, but he gets that there are others distancing themselves. And it's hard to hide his surprise, and a little confusion, a little hurt. Hasn't learned how to do that when he never needed to before coming here. She's so much smarter than him and level-headed, and she helped spearhead efforts for the first meeting...

"We've been at war for thirty years," he starts with. "Back home. That's like a generation of people who've only known that humanity's at war. The weapons are pretty crude, and I'm not good at them," he can be honest even about his terrible skills when honesty's called for, "but fighting's something I just know about. I don't really want to fight for the Inquisition, but if I'm gonna keep fighting, it'll be for the people who can't, y'know?"

Even Project Freelancer started with good intentions. He has to believe that, even if it all fell apart from the inside. Sure, he tells people he's a soldier, but even that's in question. He was a tool. And a source of contention between fucked up soldiers who were made to fight other people. Fighting demons and aliens is easy; they're not other people.

He blinks himself back to reality, back the start of a small headache at the thought of how his own history doesn't line up. "So--so yeah. I want to fight for people but I also want to make sure people who don't have a choice in the matter are treated fairly. So people like Seeker Sassypants don't decide they know what's best for us again. It's not right. And I guess even if you can't really spare the time to support us, you're still one of us."

Church's fingers curl with hers, squeezing back. His smile is more of an odd sad twitch of his mouth, like it's not sure what position to be in. It's stupid, it's fucking ridiculous that something like this hurts, and he wishes that would resolve itself because that's absolutely not fucking fair to her. "And you're still my friend, yeah. Of course. Obviously. I um. I've met Hermione. I probably sounded like an ass, no surprises there, but we had at least a semi-productive conversation so...yeah. I'll call her out. See what we can do." He can be a leader. Done it before. No sweat, right?

"I am so sorry," she tells him, and she means it as sincerely as she can even if trying to imagine being at war longer than she's been alive is a terrifying thought, especially when that seems to be what the norm is in Thedas, brief pauses before it all begins to pick up again. "Ever since the war we had, every system we have in place has been to never have one again, my home was the one to end it because we were the sailors, the ones who couldn't easily be invaded the way the rest were, and we could bring relief and aid. I'm a common girl, my father is a pirate captain, my mother is a whore, I stole to feed people who couldn't buy food. That's why I want to be one of the Inquisition. For all the people out there who can't. Like those people in Sahrnia. The ones in the cages."

There are few things she doesn't tell Korrin, but having the odd nightmare about those cages and the people begging her to get them out? That's one of them. She doesn't regret going, she'd do it again and again even if she hopes she never has to but you don't forget that. She looks at Church then, carefully, head tilted to the side because she doesn't usually ask people their age because she's not so rude but after what he said…

"Most of your life too then?" A gentle question, like she's afraid of the answer she's going to get. Maybe she is. "I think that the path I have chosen can do that. I'm not so foolish to think I'm not going to not suddenly be a rifter, it's what I'll always be. I told the Seeker that. That like it or not, before any of us are anything else that we have ever been in our lives, before we are even men or women, sometimes before we are even people-" her voice almost cracks on that, it still hurts that this is the reality of the situation, that there are always going to be so many who don't see them the same way as natives through something that wasn't a choice. "We'll be rifters. Together or apart, we're rifters. What we do will reflect on one another, like it or not. I am still hoping that what I do for the good of the Inquisition will still be counted towards the rest of you, since people tend to do that anyway."

That's not her motive with being a bard but there's always going to be a chance that it'll happen. That people are going to see that she's working herself to the bone, that she doesn't complain once, that she's throwing herself into life in Thedas first. There are plenty of ways she can make it work if she has to but the bard part has to come first if she wants to be true to herself, and she does miss her old life.

"You don't give yourself enough credit." Leaning across, she sets her other hand on his shoulder and smiles. "You have a very good heart, listen to that. Everything you've said? That shows just how much you care. That's what we need. That's what everyone needs. Compassion. Someone I love very dearly at home told me once that compassion can be a force. Sometimes we let our heads get in the way of our hearts, and we think when we should feel."

He could just laugh, because he doesn't really know. He doesn't know quite how old he is. Doesn't know how long Freelancer's been in play, doesn't know when the Alpha was first 'born', doesn't know how old the Director is, certainly. He's got memories of life that, apparently, aren't even his--

"Yeah. All my life, actually." It's at least true. He can't be specific, but hey, she isn't asking for a number. He looks like he could pass somewhere between late 20's, maybe mid-30's? Older? God, what happens when this body starts getting grey hairs?? "I'm glad. That you didn't know about war, before coming here. I mean it...sucks, it really sucks that you're shoved into this unprepared, but it isn't like you're on the front lines, and you know how to protect yourself anyway, so it's not...yeah. I'm not saying--y'know, saying that you're incapable of--" Church shrugs his shoulders in an exaggerated way. His words are getting away from him, and it's not really the point.

"I haven't seen some of the shit you have. Even what--even where I was." Some version of him has seen how terrible people can be to each other, but that's not him. It's just a missing part. "So that you came from where you did, and you were faced with this, and you still want to help? Even if it's as, I dunno, I guess you're a spy, right, if you're working for her?" 'Sister Nightingale', the spymaster. Not his bag, but more power to those who can. "That's powerful. And it'll help us, too, even from there. And some people just aren't capable of seeing the good in people that fall out of the fucking sky. That's their problem. It sucks, but they haven't seen anything like it before. Aside from, uh. Demons. So. But if anyone pigheaded enough and dumb enough decides to fuck with one of us, even one of us who doesn't want to be one of us, even one of us who's a stupid asshole, so fucking help me I'll go apeshit on 'em."

...Maybe that's not actually the most useful sentiment. "Or uh...whatever slightly more diplomatic method might be to get the message across, I guess. Official statements to those in charge. Whatever. Not like the Seeker seems to care what we have to say so long as we swear loyalty with a sword to our throats. Not a lot of wiggle room there."

It's a little weird, in some ways, to get to these feelsy, emotional, caring parts with people. Oh sure, duh, he always cared, just in his asshole way. Still, having it pointed out (by an attractive woman) is...how's a guy supposed to react to that? "Anyway. Yeah. Anyway, thanks, um, so yeah, if I get things re-set up, you're totally welcome to drop by, and uh, I'll try to make sure we don't burn ourselves and all of Skyhold to the ground. I didn't mean to make this all awkward and sad?? I hope your girlfriend doesn't see you upset because I definitely don't want to get punched by her. Or turned into a human lightning rod." Church: master of topic shifts via babbling. "If you um, if you want to just keep playing, I could just be your audience for a bit, promise I won't heckle too much?" Church stop talking.

Practice keeps her face from betraying her, staying exactly as it was without even a flicker. Sometimes it would be easier if people knew, but at the same time, it allows her the element of surprise, and it gives her the upper hand; people take her as they find her. They don't know about the last year of her life running around in the royal guard, being a bard without the masks and the music. People treat you differently when they know you work for the nobility, and anyway, what's there to say that she would be believed anyway? She could have picked it up in plenty of places at home too, just like someone could in Thedas, learning all the things to say and do. It's safer to keep it hidden for as long as possible, confined to the three that know it outside of her.

"I understand," is what she says instead of anything else that she might if she were someone else, if she didn't know how to weigh all the pros and cons, if she didn't know how the game is played. "We worked very hard to make sure we didn't have war. We're taught about it, about what it did. One country still feels what happened to it even now, and that is always our reminder. My father taught me to play the hand you're dealt."

If she tells herself that enough times, she'll believe it in everything, she won't be afraid of the same thing happening to her that happened to Sina, or never going home, or everyone forgetting her if she does make it back, or any of the things she's ever imagined since coming to Thedas.

"Something like that, she has scouts, spies, agents. Eyes and ears - she can't be everywhere or it would compromise her, so we can all go where she can't." Same as Leandra only it's not the same little group all the time, there are so many of them from so many backgrounds, and right now Araceli's one of her only actual students but being a bard puts people around you at risk, Leliana said as much to her, so she's not about to go painting targets on backs if she doesn't have to. Not when people already have them courtesy of the rifts. Unexpectedly she laughs so hard she snorts, shaking her head. "Apeshit? I like that. That's a good way of putting it, it has fire and spirit in it."

Sometimes you need all Araceli's pretty words and tactics like calming down angry Vashoth mage girlfriends set to explode over certain abomination revelation declarations, and sometimes you just need honesty. It all depends on the moment and the audience. "I can certainly speak to the Nightingale if you'd like? She might be able to present options or terms that aren't the Seekers, and a way to phrase it so that even she would agree to it, considering that Galadriel and this Obi-Wan have complicated issues." There's a hardness that enters her tone, not quite like the cheerful Araceli, more like the guard that doesn't really see the light of day outside of her and Korrin's room when they're having serious discussions about the mage council and how to get things done but there are innocent people who could get caught in the crossfire, and if they do then she'll be furious with all parties involved. But she knows how these games are played. Step around the obstacles and go to someone who knows the situation better, phrase it just so and offer to make introductions.

She's making a new life for herself here, she can do no less than offer to help them one last time with this.

"Korrin won't punch anyone or she'll be sleeping on the floor." Or outside the door. Since Araceli can lock them both out the room then let herself in through the window and if she wants to hold a grudge then she damn well can. "Of course, this is one from home since I'm so tired of that woman in the tavern playing the same terrible songs over and over and over again." With a small nervous smile, she clears her throat and plucks a few chords before she begins to play

Maybe the fact that she's going to be or supposed to be a spy-scout-bard should make him a little more paranoid, but that's never been a particular trait of his. He doesn't think to question her reactions, if they're genuine or not, because even though she keeps surprising him with skills and tidbits from her background, she's always been perfectly charming and honest around him.

Still. The hardness that creeps into her voice is something to consider. "I don't know how much influence there is there. I don't even know if she still plans on interrogating everyone who falls out of the sky. I hope not. I'll fight it, somehow, if she does. But, I mean...if your Nightingale wants to put in a good word for us, I'm definitely not gonna stop you." Might even be nice, if the Sister wants to actually help, and Araceli's got her ear at this moment. But he doesn't want to beg for help. (Besides, what if the Seeker just says no?)

But that's...something for later. Because right now, in this instance, it's music. It's her never shy but certainly nervous smile, and the lute she's teaching herself, and her homeland shanty-ballad. He tucks his chin in his hands and listens, drifting along with her, smiling dreamily. Korrin's got a good one, here. And he is not afraid to punch a giant horny woman if said woman mistreats Araceli, self-preservation be damned.

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open; Give me a field, give me a big sky

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