[Open] Did Your Mama Tell You About Me?

[meonikost]

WHO: Meoni Kost and you!
WHAT: Catch all for the later half of Justinian, just to get introduced
WHEN: 15th of June/Justinian onward
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: Set after she's rescued from Red Templars. Both prose and brackets are fine, present or past tense.

1. Healer Tents, 15 - 22 Justinian

The first few days had been rocky. Between the exposure to red lyrium and various festering infections, Meoni was sure she would die. But the healers were good, or maybe she was just lucky. Whatever the reason, she was alive now, sitting up in bed and carefully flexing her fingers. Her right wrist was infected from the shackles she'd been in. The healers had tried to be careful when dealing with the infection, but her fingers still ached.

Meoni glanced up as the flap shifted, unsure if it was the wind or a healer or a patient. The tent was one of the bigger ones, to account for the space she took up, but it also meant that she was more likely to share with other patients who needed the space.

2. Tavern, after 22 Justinian

Meoni sat in a corner, sipping cheap ale as she considered her letter. She hadn't got very far into it, and spent more time staring off into space than actually writing. She was leaving her mercenary company--and Meoni knew they would let her go, but it was hard to come up with the words to leave the company she'd been with for twenty-five years. Especially after her team...

Right. She needed to send a list of the people who had died--meaning, everyone but her. Meoni's grip tightened on the mug, and she took a few heavy swallows.

"Maker, take me," She muttered, and set the mug down again.

3. Training grounds, after 22 Justinian

The healers hadn't cleared her to fight, or even for combat training, but they had grudgingly allowed her to exercise. If Meoni was being honest, basic exercise was all she was really up for at this point. Even out of armor, she was already sweating heavily after a round of basic training--lifting stones, jumping, and so on. It wasn't that her strength wasn't there, she'd just lost a lot of endurance. For the type of fighting she did, that wasn't useful in the last. Meoni took a pull from her flask, breathing slowly through the ache in her chest. It was going to be a long few weeks, wasn't it?

Comments

[meonikost]

Definitely young, maybe a "grab the world by the horns" type. Meoni almost snorts at her own stupid pun, and decides to save it for later. If there is a later.

"Something like that," Meoni agrees, looking back down at her hands. It's amazing how tired she is, despite doing next to nothing for days. It's healing, but Andraste's ass is it aggravating to wake up already exhausted.

Meoni realizes, eyes jerking back to Korrin's, that she should fill the silence. It's polite, even if she's a little...off. "I don't actually remember if I said it or just thought it really loudly," She said, smiling wryly. "But thank you."

[gatheringstorm]

Noting Meoni's exhaustion despite the lucidity, Korrin wonders if perhaps she should have waited to barge in. Perhaps the woman had as low of a tolerance for idleness and boredom as she did, but she's still not fully recovered. There's a pang of guilt, even as Korrin plans to make it up to her somehow.

Echoing the smile, she nods. "You're very welcome. I'm just glad we were able to get there in time. I thought it was just going to be a cathartic mission, smashing Red Templars, not that we'd find anyone else there. I should have remembered Emprise du Lion." That last part is said with undeniable bitterness, never able to forgive the Red Templars for what they did to the people there. "Want me to smuggle anything over to you? If you've an appetite, the kitchen just made a bunch of stuff, like stew, bread and hearth cakes."

[meonikost]

Meoni has half a mind to ask about Emprise du Lion, but decides not to after hearing Korrin's tone. Maybe later, when she doesn't have time to stew in her own thoughts.

"I'm not very hungry... but if you have the time to chat with an old lady like me, I'd appreciate the company," Meoni says. She's gotten to know some of the healers well enough, but with a whole army of people and refugees, there's only so much time to be spent talking.

[gatheringstorm]

Yeah, that topic might require a few drinks first, and Korrin's pretty sure that the healers won't allow Meoni to share in those just yet. It's a shame, but they'll get to that later. (And if Meoni thought she could handle something relatively weak, Korrin would probably still find a way to smuggle it to her.)

Nodding, she flops down onto an empty seat, not going to take up one of the empty cots in case it might see use. Being bigger than almost everyone else is no excuse to be a jerk, after all. "Hey, absolutely. I can answer whatever questions you have about the Inquisition or Skyhold or whatever. I've been here since the temple explosion, some months ago...most of a year, now? Fuck." When she says it aloud, it seems so strange.

[meonikost]

Meoni's eyebrows arch, but she smiles a little. "That's certainly a long time...so, you're a Vashoth?" She doesn't have the accent, and uses a full name. Meoni's Pa had stuck with his title, though since they mostly spoke the common tongue, it sounded like a name to the unskilled in Qunlat. "How did you come to join up--I mean, explosion at the temple and all, but surely you weren't in it?" As far as she knew, only the Herald had survived.

[gatheringstorm]

She nods, after a moment to turn the chair around so she can rest her arms along the back, straddling it. "Yeah, I'm Vashoth, raised mostly in the Free Marches and sometimes Rivain. And no, I wasn't caught up in the blast. I was off in the Hinterlands guarding someone's estate from roaming rebel mages and Templars trying to kill each other. Some of my company, the Valo-Kas, were working security at the temple. There was only one survivor from that, the Herald. That was...not a fun day. I stuck around because someone was going to answer for that, and I wanted to be there to help grind them into dust."

[meonikost]

"Ah, the Free Marches. I grew up out there, too." Frankly, she'd probably already joined Vedas' Marchers before Korrin was even walking.

As Korrin continues, Meoni grimaces sympathetically. She knows what it's like to lose company members--and the Valos-Kas are much more tightly knit than her own...than her old group, Vedas' Marchers.

"Maker, do I know the feeling." Meoni reaches up to touch what's left of her right horn. The base of her scalp isn't infected anymore, but there's a scab that means she can't braid her hair back without reopening it. "It looks like you're doing a good job, if what work you did with the templars out there is normal."

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin smiles briefly at meeting a fellow Marcher, not that they're lacking in numbers around here but still. Her gaze turns to what's left of that horn, pensive and wondering what other ordeals Meoni has been through but it seems insensitive to ask when she's still bedridden from that most recent experience. So she'll mostly keep to her own experience, nodding with a little pride at mention of those Red Templars. They'd terrified her when she first saw and fought them, so the ease with which she can dispatch them now is well-earned.

"That's because we've had a lot of practice. Red Templars aren't exactly an uncommon sight in some places, unfortunately, but that means we've become better at dealing with them. They keep trying to entrench themselves around the South, but I'd like to think we've made a dent in their efforts.

And hey, I've some of my company that are here now. We could always meet up later when you're well enough and swap stories. Taaranda's our warrior, young and sweet and a dog-magnet. She's the new Vashoth liaison to the Inquisition, so if there's any issue on that end, bring it to her. Lena's our Tempest and a demon with daggers, also loves pretending that she's all-jerk though she isn't. There are plenty here who aren't part of the company either, more than I've ever seen outside it or Rivain."