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

[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."

[circleprodigy]

Garahel remains calm, simply listening to Inessa and Herian and thumping his tail against the ground when either meets eyes with him. For the moment, though, Inessa's attention is largely on the wounded mage. She nods, satisfied in the progress made with her limited healing. Herian really ought to see one of the Spirit Healers, but that's her responsibility and the Grey Warden won't nag.

"You're welcome. And if you need extra company out there, I offer my assistance if you like. I've always been interested in watching a knight-enchanter at work, and could renew barriers should they fall."

[dashing]

Her skin is better knitted together, though not all the wounds are fully erased, and shadows of bruising lurk under her skin. She can see to them later, though she might ask that Adelaide see to them as a healer and not a spirit healer. It seems selfish, to request the repair of injuries that sharper focus might have spared her. The injuries are her own fault, though whether by poor luck or recklessness she can hardly say.

"Oh?" Herian's tone is eternally even, though it does not (in this instance) mark a lack of interest. "Are barriers your favoured spell type, Warden Serra?"

[circleprodigy]

Inessa shrugs, finding barriers useful but she doesn't merely hide behind them. "No. That would be ice magic. I've always had an affinity for that element, so I use it most often. Perhaps that answer will change, though. I've grown curious about rift magic; perhaps understanding it will allow me to fight our enemies more effectively."

And to be honest, using the Venatori's lore against them tickles her a bit.

[dashing]

There is almost (almost!) a smile in response to that, a fleeting shadow of a thing. "So newly arrived and already turning yourself to a new discipline?"

Herian was hardly in a position to comment, really; she had been working harder at sword forms since she arrived than she had been able to before, if only because she knew the people she had been protecting before were here, and there were teachers here that she could pester.

[circleprodigy]

That gets a small shrug from her and a slight smile. "I may be new, but it's been a while since I was part of a Circle or studied the arcane to such a degree. I have no desire to stagnate as a mage. Failing to take advantage of the arcane knowledge pooled in the Inquisition would be a true waste, especially when I don't know how long it will last." And when it's over, she'll have to return to her Grey Warden duties, not tower research. This is her one great chance to learn more on her own terms, in her own time.

[dashing]

That is of some interest, and Herian pauses her attention to her injuries.

"I had not considered that the Wardens might not train one another," she starts slowly, weighing her words to test them, to ensure there is no inadvertent offence tucked into them. Perhaps it makes sense, when the Circles were so focused on education. "The Circles were a great wealth of knowledge. Their loss robs each of us."

[circleprodigy]

Inessa shrugs as she elaborates, not offended. She had brought it up, after all. "There is training, but if it's not darkspawn-related, it tends to be somewhat haphazard. It's nothing like the structure of the Circles, that's for certain. And I agree. It pains me to think of what state my tower might be in now, what might be lost forever. Perhaps they cannot continue exactly as they were, but for them to vanish entirely? It would be no boon, not for anyone."

[dashing]

"We are agreed in that."

Herian muses a moment, before carrying on. "There are elements of the Inquisition that remind me a little of the Circle, and others so sharply opposed as to make any comparison laughable. That we might learn and witness such a pooling of knowledge is one similarity."

[circleprodigy]

"My time here hasn't been enough for me to see enough elements for myself, but I'll take your word for it. Are you to lend your voice to the council? I have no doubt they could use someone who remembers the good in the Circle." Inessa hasn't and won't volunteer herself, feeling certain that her efforts are best focused on her order. Even so, she retains an interest in mage affairs even though they no longer directly affect her either way.