born from dark water, daughter of the rain and snow

[dashing]

WHO: Herian Amsel, Leliana & Ruby Lucas and various and also open
WHAT: various! a catch-all for three losers
WHEN: throughout August
WHERE: Skyhold, Orlais, and much much more (not actually much more.)
(Herian will be in Skyhold for the first week or so of August, and then is heading back to Orlais, Leliana will be in Skyhold throughout, Ruby is probably in Orlais most of the month.)
NOTES: Prose or brackets are fine! If you would like to do a thing and these starters don't fit or you'd like something custom, feel free to pm me or prod me on plurk @karmacharging.
WARNINGS:
Herian's background includes themes of violence, torture and death, as well as discrimination and PTSD. While she will not in general be vocal about some of her own prejudices (against apostates, Dalish and nobles as some examples) it is very likely to come up in narrative and could come up in dialogue depending on interactions. Here is an opt out post if you'd rather certain things be avoided, or if you'd like to opt out of interactions with her in general.

Leliana is princess stabbity, it's hard to avoid depending on the thread so heads up for potential mention of Assassin Life, opt out here.

Ruby has potential for mentions of murder, cannibalism (both accidental) and depression, they are easily avoidable depending on threads, but here is an opt out post if you would like me to steer clear of particular topics, or opt out of interactions with Ruby generally.

( open. ) herian — halamshiral & around the estate.
There is a little stretch at the very beginning of the month when Herian travels to Skyhold with a collection of Inquisition requisitions and troops and others needing to make a return to Skyhold. The elves that she brought to Halamshiral travel, and that is the only reason for it that she has. She is not yet certain if the Inquisition is a damned thing, or if she should stay. For now, she is more than half certain she should take her leave and continue to try and help the elves of Orlais.

( a. ) patching herself up.
A scuffle with bandits on the return journey, and though she was unharmed and there were no others in the party, it has left her a little worse for wear. She is able enough with a sword, but trying to get by with a little magic on the open road as possible and no staff, she has to admit she has a way to go before she can be well matched against those who have held blades for so much of their lives.

She sits, now, far away from the healing tents, avoiding the smell of salves and herbs and all the rest that goes with it, though the prospect of avoiding a place where she knows Dalish to wander has a certain appeal as well. The thing is, though, that Herian is no healer, and her grasp of the medical is limited to helping in emergencies. As she tries to crush elf root in her hand and rub it over a vicious gasp across her forearm, her lip curls in something like a snarl for just half a moment before the expression is controlled again. There are other wounds, nothing life threatening, but a few that are rather painful.

( b. ) training.
Herian rises early to train, long before the sun has given thought to rising for itself. For hour upon hour she trains, sword drill after sword drill, until the sun is beating more powerfully against the earth, and she sets down her sword to dip a cup into a water bucket, and pour it down her back, another tipped over her hair. There is something of a commotion, and a couple of refugee children are belting through the yard, one shoving the water barrel so it almost goes topping over and drenching—

But Herian's hand grasps it, and although it is tall and very heavy, she manages to keep it upright. Possibly with some water dramatically splashed, yes, but not the whole thing. "Are you all right?"

( c. ) wildcard.
Very early in the month it's cool to do stuff in Skyhold, but later on she's back in Halamshiral.


( open. ) ruby — halamshiral & around the estate.
( a. ) in the alienage.
"I've—" Her voice wavers a moment, and she looks at the skeletons of buildings. They all seem like different types of carcasses, their flesh charred and their limbs warped and twisted. Buildings were one thing. People were another, and they carried the marks of all this on them as well.

Everything carries the scents of death in it that normal noses cannot smell, beyond all the obvious layers. There are times when the Wolf's nose is a gift, but this? This is seriously not one of them.

"I haven't seen anything like this in a long time." It's like the worst of Regina, but they had outright called her the Evil Queen. From what Ruby could figure, calling Celene that could risk your neck.

( b. ) wildcard.

Comments

( closed ) for bruce.

[dashing]

"Stop!"

She yells, but it comes a moment too late. A wagon highly loaded with bales of hay is being brought into the estate for the stables and the Inquisitions horses hence is badly steered, veering too close to the low hanging branches if a tree. They catch some of the bales of hay, and they tumble heavily down the back of the wagon.

Herian is running in that direction of the minor chaos without thinking, a snarl at the corner of her lips that does not make it into her tone, which stays calm even now, even with the harshness that weaves into it. "Someone might have been hurt through your recklessness."

And with that, she draws her gaze away from the fool humans, and moves towards a man that had been accosted by hay. "Stand you harmed?"

what an entrance

[amygdalae]

In retrospect, maybe he shouldn't have chosen to rest under a tree that was so close to the roads.

Though in Bruce's defense, it wasn't as if there was a lot of space; there was a fair portion of the Inquisition's forces stationed here in Orlais and this place was certainly no Skyhold. He barely had a place to sleep when he needed to, let alone rest during the day when pretty much everyone was active.

Besides, it was just supposed to be a quick break; the last thing he had expected was to be struck in the head by tumbling bales of hay.

The impact wasn't great by any means but Bruce still found himself lying on the ground anyway - thankfully face up because he certainly didn't want to have an reenactment of the other time when he had been unceremoniously tackled face-first down into the snow. As it is he lies down there for several moments, taking the time to recollect himself, but before he could get back up he hears footsteps approaching him, and a sharp voice asking if he was fine.

"I--yeah." Bruce gives himself a second more before he does go to make himself sit up, rubbing his head with a stifled sigh. At least he hadn't had anything important or fragile on him because this would have gone in a while different direction in that case.

i try, i try

[dashing]

With little hesitation, Herian holds her hand out to the stranger to help him haul himself up with the counterbalance of her weight. From her guess he's not injured in any way that means he can't stand, but she reaches and brushes a couple of pieces of hay from his shoulder.

One of the humans grabs up a hay bale in each hand, strings pulling tight across his hands, and Herian gives him a look, before turning back to the stranger. If she knew him, mayhaps she' make best that this was the final straw.

Alas, she resists.

"We can attend the medical tents directly, if you have need of them."

A+ all around

[amygdalae]

Bruce blinks for a moment at the offered hand, somewhat surprised by it since its not as if he had suffered any sort of big injury and he could easily get up himself. But he doesn't want to be rude after she had went out of the way to help him, so he takes the offered hand and lets her help him up.

"Um, thanks," he manages out once he's back up on his feet again, giving another blink when she moves to brush loose hay off from his shoulder. He runs a hand through his hair and grimaces slightly when he can feel strands of it in his hair - he'll have to deal with that later. First, though... "I'm fine, really. I can give myself a look over later if I have to."

He sends what he hopes is a reassuring smile towards the other.

Ruby, A

[circleprodigy]

Inessa glances over to the tall human woman, her own expression devoid of shock (now, anyway) but grim taking into account every last detail. She refuses to turn her gaze away from this horror. As an elf, the charred buildings are a stark reminder that she can't afford to forget how the rest of the world often sees her kind. She has rights and privileges beyond those of most elves, who are far more vulnerable. That she can't afford to forget.

"I can't say it will be the last such instance. And Empress Celene was considered an advocate for elves when and where she could afford to be; they made some tangible gains under her reign. Yet, in the end, they're disposable when inconvenient. This might not be the only area she puts to the torch."

[eviscerates]

"What could make her do that?"

If she made the effort to help elves where others did not, if they did a little better under her reign... that meant she cared, right? It meant they mattered enough for her to make an effort. And then this? Part of her wants to believe that something forced her hand, that she hated the action, anything.

Part of her isn't sure that makes any difference, or that it would be worth any voice.

[circleprodigy]

The elven Grey Warden is silent for a moment, watching her mabari sniff around the area. To her eyes, he's somewhat subdued, picking up on her mood perhaps or just sensitive to that of the area's. Her own tone is calm, almost resigned. This isn't the first atrocity to happen to elves, and it won't be the last.

"From what I've been told, it stems from the feud with her cousin. He wants to take away the crown from her; it's the entire reason behind this civil war. He tried to paint her as too lenient on the elves, so she retaliated...while the elves of Halamshiral were in the midst of an uprising, no less. I said they made some gains, but their treatment is still very far from what humans receive. The word of an elf has little weight against that of a human, especially a human noble. Thus, they can have considerable room to act as they please."

Herian, A

[circleprodigy]

Inessa isn't often near the healing tents anyway, being fortunate enough not to need them. Instead, she's taking advantage of the current downtime to wear out Garahel with a game of fetch, sending him scrambling after that ball as though it has a treat hidden within. During one of his runs, he spots Herian and barks in recognition, heading over and ignoring the ball for the time being. His tail wags as he comes up to her, a soft whine escaping as he notes those wounds.

When Garahel doesn't return to her in the usual amount of time, Inessa heads over to see what's causing the delay. Spotting Herian, the elven woman raises an eyebrow. "Garahel, are you pestering her? Come away, now." But he remains put, so she approaches to retrieve him and promptly takes note of the woman's injuries.

"If you want a healing spell, I can provide. Anything more and I'll be unable to assist, however."

[dashing]

The sound of a dog's bark still sets her just slightly on edge. Herian stills, looking towards the mabari with a cold, controlled deliberateness. "Garahel," she says, in a quiet greeting that feels very foolish but that Fereldans seemed to insist was necessary. Only half a moment later her gaze shifts to Inessa.

"He causes no trouble." And yet, Herian is not at ease. Perhaps it is not so easily read, when she is so controlled in each moment and each breath. She remembers what dogs can do, and it is a determination to be brave, to be a knight, that has taught her not to withdraw from the presence of hounds rather than finding them anything— unpleasant.

Looking at her own wounds, she frowns a little. "I am not sure all of these can be soothed by magic's touch, or are worth the expenditure of energy. If you'd not mind, though, hastening the recovery would be much appreciated."

[circleprodigy]

Despite the cold response, Garahel seems pleased she remembers his name and wags his tail at her. He knows enough not to jump or paw at Herian for pettings, but he nonetheless remains close until his mistress arrives. Once she's here to take over, he plops down on the ground.

Inessa glances over to her mabari as though to confirm Herian's words, then turns her focus to the knight-enchanter and her wounds. "I'll do what I can. It must have been quite a battle. I'm told a knight-enchanter's barriers rarely falter." She's not casting blame, just a little curious. But if Herian seems unwilling to discuss it, she'll try not to pry more than that. Concentrating, she casts a simple healing spell, infusing her fellow mage with some much-needed relief.

[dashing]

"Rarely," she agrees. "But we all of us face challenges, and they were greater in number than I had anticipated." There was no honour in pride, though it could hardly be said she was a modest person. She is proud of the capabilities of those who share her specialisation, but this had been more complicated fight than she'd necessarily braced herself for, former Templars turned bandits.

Her attention remains somewhat on Garahel out of sheer habit. She knows that he is not one to lunge at children and thinks well enough of Inessa not to imagine her one to order him to attack innocents, but that gut instinct of caution lingers all the same.

Even if she is able to enduring pain, the quiet relief of the tension it inspires leaving muscles helps her ease. "You have my thanks."

First Up - Ruby in the Alienage

[the_effect_she_has]

Katniss frowns as she slowly walks through the rubble, looking over at the young woman who looked so stricken by this violence. Something in her twisted - when had she become accustomed to such horror? It still filled her with sadness, but she wasn't shocked by it anymore.

"Clearly you didn't go out to Emprise du Lion." Is Katniss's quiet response, as she tilted her head to the side, listening to the whispers in the background, "This is - yes. This is pretty grisly."

[eviscerates]

"I was there," Ruby replies, tone— odd. 'Odd' is the only word that'll do, nothing else seems adequate. Nothing seems like it'd fit. "Only for a little while. I was... I think I'd just gotten here."

She'd been more concerned with Emma than with anything else.

"'Grisly'. Good word for it."

It's horrifying. Ruby blinks a couple of times before looking to Katniss. "You doing okay?"

[the_effect_she_has]

"Ah. It was ... worse, earlier on. This fits it pretty well though." Katniss murmured, as she knelt down, brushing some ash away from a tin soldier. She frowned for a moment, before rising once more.

She looked over her shoulder, then said simply, "Just listening to which way the winds are blowing."

She can hear them, a few elves in the background murmuring about the Inquisition soldiers. Remarkably well-informed, at that ...

AHHHHH I'm so sorry, I lost the notif somehow D:

[eviscerates]

Her eyebrow quirks with that, tilting her head just slightly to listen. A wolves ears were sharp, precise. A little too sharp, sometimes.

"They must just be waiting for us to do something bad." Not them specifically, though perhaps it could apply just as well. "Big ol' military, arriving to make things right."

( closed ) for adelaide.

[eviscerates]

Ruby is on edge. That's not necessarily unusual. She's a Wolf, and there's a tension in this place. So many places here just smell of smoke and of blood soaked into wood. Other people can't smell it, it's too old and worn away and coated in dust, but a Wolf can pick up on many things. It reminds her of Regina at her worse, and though Ruby's done whatever she can to help, she's been quieter than usual. Tense and pensive. Tensive, she said once when someone asked how she was, with an effort at a smile, and it didn't really wash.

Ruby's accepted she's weird, as well as on edge.

She lingers outside the room that Adelaide has been afforded thanks to her name and her humanity and everything else, hand hanging over the door before gulping a breath and committing to knock. It's just a little thing, knocking. Easy, simply, probably not going to make the world get dragged into some horrifying death vortex that kills them all. No big deal.

But it feels like one. It feels like she's being hollowed out, she feels nauseous and tangled up and lost, all at the same moment. It shouldn't be like this, and—

And it doesn't have to be. Maybe it won't be. Maybe Ruby can leave and come back later. Maybe she left the gas on or the lights in the kitchen, or maybe she needs to go check on some lasagne, or something. Or maybe Ruby can stop being a damn coward and make sure she doesn't become a liar, and just— do this. Inhale and exhale, and Ruby shakes out her shoulders a little, as if she were preparing for a run and not a conversation.

Warm and bright and totally fine, "Hey, Captain? Is now an okay time?"

( closed ) for adelaide.

[fleurdesel]

Halamshiral has been...a trial. Returning to her roots, returning to the Game when she'd never been an earnest player in the past? It has taken effort and patience Adelaide does not have in great reserve. Those she speaks to see The LeBlanc Crest and it earns her both more leeway and greater expectation. Meeting those has been difficult. Maintaining her standards and theirs? Exhausting. But she has gotten word round of what she needs, gotten a foot in the door among the nobility.

That has to be worth something. There is good that can be found if she establishes herself. uses these privileges to aide those around her.

Still she knows better than to wander about the alienage. They have healers far better suited to that situation. Being there would help no one, not the elves, not herself, not her family. One of the few bright spots has been having her friends here, somewhere she does not need both the literal and figurative masks that come with her station. Ruby, in particular, has been a blessing.

Two raps on the door and she blinks herself back to the present from the notes strewn about the writing desk she's been given. A proper office for a proper Lady. "Of course, Red."

Tired, but she's always tired, it is nothing new. "Come in."

[eviscerates]

The tiredness isn't lost on her, and it inspires concern and guilt and a faint Adelaide, why that's fonder than it should be. Fonder than is appropriate.

"Thanks." She sidles in, closes the door behind her, and leans back against it for long moments. The noble scholar in her natural habitat, and the Wolf entirely out of hers. Unfortunately internal David Attenborough wouldn't help, here.

"I, um." Her voices is calm, but there's tension in the way she moves her wrists and her hands, not wringing them, just--

Not fluid. Not easy. "I think of need to talk to you about something. And it's not a bad thing, I don't... think, but it's a thing you should know and if I don't tell you then it'll be lying by omission, and that's not what we do."

Somehow they'd developed a solid honesty rapport. She liked it. Needed it, really. "So... can we talk now or would you prefer I come back another time when everything is less... the way it is."

[fleurdesel]

"What is it?" Familiar words in an unfamiliar tone- she snaps them at students, sighs them at mages with their requests, writes them with frustration to her brother and mother, bites back curious glee when among fellow researchers. Here it is...quieter. Softer. Uncertain for she has never quite seen Ruby this unsettled. Not even in the fade.

Adelaide sets her pen aside, turning in her chair to face Red properly. As though that would be invitation to come closer. To lean against her desk as she often does, to bump their shoulders together casually as has become habit. To occupy the same space as though she has a right to it- and that is one that Adelaide gave her, gladly, months ago.

She isn't certain what is more unsettling. The distance or discomfit in Red's eyes. "...Charlotte?"

leliana; catching up on projects

[arcaneadvisor]

The reception to her message on the sending crystal - the first Morrigan has put out in some months - is far better than expected, and it sends her up to the rookery to seek out Leliana with a satisfied smile on her face. She has information today. It might not all of it prove entirely useful but she's done it, done something that isn't entirely her realm, something that was theirs months before there was a them (is there a 'them', they still haven't really spoken specifics and she's content to step around it the way she is with half a hundred and half a hundred more other things) and she actually waits until Leliana is ready to speak with her.

Progress? Well there's a raven that's happy to come perch on her hand, quorking until Morrigan strokes delicately between two beady black eyes that slip shut in rapture until she announces herself.

"Leliana." Always and forever Leliana. "Have you a moment?"

[fightingale]

That particular raven would be one Dominic de Plume, more often known as Dom de Plume. He is a clever raven, perhaps a little less solid than some of the others, but no less skilful, no less value. Dom opens his beak in protest as Morrigan speaks to Leliana and not him. It is a veritable sea of :V.

Leliana, the far inferior Rookery inhabitant involved in this conversation (and also far less inclined to smoosh her her head against Morrigan's hand for attention), looks over without any smile that's readily visible, and yet her smile is apparent all the same.

"No," she replies, and only then is the hint of a smile a little more obvious, and only for a moment, "but I believe a debrief is necessary regardless. Abarca," and she addresses a dwarven scout whose gaze is as sharp as her own, "if you would be so kind as to distribute the orders?"

Abarca nods, takes up the sealed scrolls, and nods to Leliana and then to Morrigan before going to make his exit.

[arcaneadvisor]

Honestly, it's almost as if the ravens know that Morrigan is in the habit of carrying some sort of bribe about her person (she would never call them a bribe, they most certainly are not bribes, she would never stoop so low as to bribe Leliana's ravens into her favour but well, Baron Plucky has never once been unkind to her so there you go, she is doing something correctly) that she tips into her hand for him. "Hush," she murmurs to the bird. "I am not so kind to most men, ask the painted crow."

This is what she is reduced to, are you happy Leliana? Did you know she is playing Schrodinger's nug with Alistair regarding what sort of pet Kieran can get so she'll never be saddled with Doghren for longer than a mission? If Shale could see this scene, imagine the carnage.

"That so many come from worlds where demons or dragons, or indeed both belong to the realm of mere stories will never cease to surprise me." Horrify, might be a more appropriate choice of word but she is in something of a good mood as Dom de Plume decides he would rather hop up on her shoulder to bob his head at his boss. What it's a good view :V. "Still, I do have some news of interest."

( closed ) for dany.

[eviscerates]

She is late. She had more than one job to do, sure, but being late for the not job actual fun thing she had planned for today is bad, very bad, and that is why Ruby resorts to desperate measures. Her flower gathering becomes rushed as she swears under her breath, because daydreaming is apparently a problem even now and she can just imagine Granny's face to know that, once again, Ruby had managed to do it.

It's warm enough that she's not wearing her cloak, and she falls forward onto her feet to transform into the Wolf before grabbing the basket between her teeth and running towards the grove near the estate where she told Daenerys she'd meet her.

Getting there doesn't take long with the speed of the Wolf, but there is the downside of lunging into the clearing in the form of a giant wild animal, even if it is one with a basket of flowers in her mouth. The basket is dropped, and in her skidding halt, Ruby manages to go from Wolf to Ruby-Ruby before she's properly stopped.

Slightly breathlessly, and with an apologetic smile: "Hi. Sorry about the entrance, I realised I was late—" Phew, breathe. "Hi," she repeats, a little more calmly. "How are you?"

[unsullies]

Appropriately, Dany stars as an enormous wolf appears, transforms, apologizes.

"What--" She stares, open-mouthed. She hadn't had the time to worry about the beast, not when it had so smoothly turned back into a woman. Her eyes drift to the basket of flowers and she snaps her mouth shut, not wanting to look childish even despite the... circumstances.

"You're able to--..." She trails off, shaking her head faintly. Transform? Disguise herself? Having never seen anything like it before, the Targaryen merely waits for an answer, wary in her physicality as if considering the chance that her 'friend' might shift back into a wolf and maul her.

Best to be prepared.

[eviscerates]

"Sorry." Repetitive, but it seems justified, even as she drags in her breath to try and stop her lungs from protesting. "Normally I'd warn someone before I just burst in all wolfy."

And probably she should explain. Or apologise some more? Or maybe both. "I'm not a shapeshifter," Ruby starts, breath starting to come a little more normally again. "The mages here who can change forms, I'm not one of them." On that she is oddly insistent, despite the fact Daenerys has not so much as mentioned them.

"I'm a wolf, and I'm human. I can change between forms. They're both me, though."