Open -- Every rose has it's thorn

[marilaine]

WHO: Marilaine and OTA
WHAT: Catchall
WHEN: Throughout August
WHERE: Skyold/ Sending Crystal
NOTES: Nothing expected? Will update if it become relevant.

I.The garden
Marilaine looked around the enclosed space of the garden, surveying the well-tended courtyard with an air of satisfaction. The people tending to it had done good work here, and the plants looked healthy, even well loved. She was here to make sure that this continued. Standing with her hands on her hips, a rare smile appeared on her scarred face. Unfortunately, Marilaine was unaware that she was blocking one of the entrances into the covered walkway that surrounded the garden. There are options to go around her of course: going the long way around to the next opening, scaling the low wall (it's only hip high at most). . . Or you could ask her to move.

II.Hot springs
Hot water was a luxury to someone who spent countless days out in the wilderness. Having enough hot water to be submerged in was a luxury that Marilaine attributed only to the wealthy who could afford wood to spare for such, or had the servants to cart hot water to a bath. It was with a sense of glee and reckless abandon that she stripped down, divesting herself of her travel-worn clothes. Kicking them off to one side, she all but pranced in place before testing the waters with a toe.

“Magnifique!”

III.Healing Tents
Marilaine wasn't a healer. Or more to the point, she wasn't one of the Spirit Healers or surgeons that frequented the tents. What little creation magic she did possess was her personal secret used on no one but herself. Marilaine however, was a skilled gardener and passably good at basic alchemy. She had with her a selection of healing plants, tinctures, medicament and poultices and was going from tent to tent offering them up to the healers within and occasionally a patient if it is something she actually can diagnose and has on hand (mostly things for fevers or low to moderate pain).


IV.Around Skyhold
Marilaine isn't just restricted to Skyhold proper. More than once she can be found trekking out over the surrounding areas looking for local herbs. Sometimes she comes back with nothing but a few dirt smears across her brow. Other times, she brings back small cuttings of wildflowers or elfroot. And once she was carrying a flower that looked suspiciously like Crystal Grace. Where does she go? Well, that is something she does her best to keep her little secret.


V.Sending crystal
[The voice that speaks has a decidedly Orlesian sound to it. To rifters familiar with earth, it sounds like someone speaking with a French accent.]

Inquisition, I am certain this request has been made before, but I wish to ask it again. If in your travels you come across any useful plants or seeds that you send them back to Skyhold. I assure you, I will make good use of them. I wish to ensure Skyhold's garden remains healthy and our supplies well stocked. I will take any and all herbs listed in The Botanical Compendium. If you are unfamiliar with the plants but still wish to help, you may stop by the garden, and I will show you anything you need to know. Just ask for Marilaine.

VI.Wildcard
If any of the above prompts doesn't work for you, feel free to pm me or contact me at burningbrightly for a custom starter or feel free to make your own! I am very flexible.

I am a huge nerd who loves prose, but will match brackets, no problem.

Comments

V.

[mythalenaste]

I've got rose hips and prophet's laurel. I'll send them back with the next supply run.

[marilaine]

Rose Hips. I have not tended to roses for an age. It will be a pleasure to work with them again. Might I have a name so I know who to thank?

[mythalenaste]

Pel.

[marilaine]

Thank you, Pel on behalf of Skyhold's gardens.

[mythalenaste]

I'm sure they are very grateful. The. Plants.

[marilaine]

I like to think so. Gardening is an art form. The other gardeners are good, but I will make Skyhold great.

[mythalenaste]

[That makes Pel bristle a little. Sina is no slouch at keeping the gardens.] They'll be relieved when you tell them.

[marilaine]

[She pauses picking up a little on Pel's tone.]

Everyone has their skill ma chere, mine is gardening.

[mythalenaste]

Mm. [Well, this one's Orlesian all right. Like that architect. Difference is, the architect wasn't stepping on a friend's talent. Of course he would if he had the opportunity, but Val is at least sort of delightful in his terribleness.] And you think you're the first person to take their gardening skill to Skyhold.

[marilaine]

[Now she is getting annoyed as her tone turns sharper.]

No? Did I not say the other gardeners did well? I am just going to improve upon what was already done.

[mythalenaste]

No, you said you were better than the other gardeners. Who still work here, by the by, and can hear you.

[marilaine]

What is wrong with admitting my skill? Should I be cowed because someone else might hear me be confident? If someone is better than me, I encourage them to prove it. Until then I refuse to be some... some... rabbit unnoticed or acknowledged for my skill.

[mythalenaste]

[A brief pause. That word creates such revulsion in Pel now that it has actually been used against her. She's angry now, where she was irritated before. Angry that it's okay for someone to use that word on themselves. But she's not going to get entangled in this woman's emotional issues, as Pel doesn't want a stranger entangled in her own. She's not going to argue about whether that word should come out of her mouth. She hears it more than Pel does, and is the better judge.]

I'm referring to an elf. [Her tone is steady, less irritated, almost supportive.]

[marilaine]

[Marilaine snorts softly, trying to calm down. She hated the word rabbit. And was more than a little upset she'd even said it.]

As am I. One who is unrepentant.

[mythalenaste]

[It seems to Pel that the woman is so accustomed to being attacked that she's fighting back without having an adversary.] I'm Dalish. I'm the very last person who could possibly suggest anyone repent of being an elf with any leg to stand on.

[marilaine]

[Dalish. Marilaine weighs the word. Growing up in the Dales she'd heard of the reclusive forest elves in hushed tones and seen their shrines scattered throughout the Greatwood... what some called the Emerald Graves. For her they were less a myth and more of a Boogey man used to threaten her and the other orphans into behaving.]

I'm surprised. I thought the Dalish didn't consider those of us who did not grow up in the wilds to be elves.

[mythalenaste]

The ones who are open-minded enough to work with an organization founded by humans and based on the Andrastian faith typically don't pick nits about what makes an elf an elf.

[But that is a sentiment Pel has heard a lot of lately. It's not one she's real happy about. These people are also the last elvhen, with or without having trees tattooed on their faces.]

[marilaine]

[Some of the hostility fades in Marilaine's voice then. Her tone is only slightly skeptical as well.]

Then you are ahead of the rest. And also the first of the Dalish I have spoken with.

[mythalenaste]

There's a few of us here. Sina's the one who works the gardens. She's shy.

[An understatement.]

[marilaine]

I do not blame her. Skyhold is a different beast from the wilderness.

[Even she was having to adjust to being surrounded by so many people.]

[mythalenaste]

Oh, I meant--

[to warn her rather than advise her, really. Sina is deceptively fierce. She doesn't just melt away like a snowflake when insulted, like you would expect when you first meet her. She speaks her mind and if you're not paying attention, you can go too far without realizing it until she's telling you exactly what's what. But if Marilaine ventures into that territory--which Pel has--she'll learn it on her own and come out of it , possibly rattled but probably unbloodied.]

Just be civil to her and she'll be to you.

[marilaine]

[Marilaine was also not someone to back down. She had seen too many elves who had their hopes and dreams crushed under the boots of humans and even other elves. Long ago, Marilaine decided that she would be the weed that sprang back up, unwilling to be flattened or crushed.]

I will try. I did not mean it as disrespect to the others earlier by the way.