[Open]

[unharrowed]

WHO: Vasran and OPEN
WHAT: Celebrating being declared a Real Mage, training with her very own staff
WHEN: Late August
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: N/A

In the end, the pseudo-Harrowing endorsed by the Mage Council had turned out to be just like dreaming. Vasran had been prepared for what she was about to face, as well as one could be prepared. To walk in the Fade was to know that nothing could be trusted except one's own mind. And it was the mind that was truly important, because demons could trick the eyes, could distract the senses, could so easily toy with emotions. Logic and will, two things which were so simple and yet so difficult to wield effectively, were the only things that could be counted on.

It was a Desire demon that had tried to take her, offering her comfort and wealth and position enough to take whatever she wanted from a world where everything had once been lost to her. Of all things, it was Vasran's pride that allowed her to refuse the demon's offer.

She would take what she got back from the world on her own terms, and no one else's.

The day after she woke again, she celebrated in the Tavern, a place where she had rarely been seen before, dancing and tossing back as many cups of wine as she could afford — or convince others to pay for. As the evening went on, she got bolder, approaching a few people head-on with her empty cup and shoving it toward them.

"Buy a drink for a demon-slayer!"

In the days after — once the subsequent hangover had subsided — she could be found on the Training Grounds, drilling battle techniques with her staff, sending bursts of electrical energy toward the targets.

Comments

[unharrowed]

"Well, they told me what they could." She reaches a hand down toward Garahel, to let him sniff or lick or whatever he's going to do, and to scratch behind his ears. "There's only so much. They can't tell what sort of demon it's going to be, or just what sort of tricks it's going to try. But it helped me to stay vigilant. I knew I couldn't trust anything, once I was in there."

Her brow wrinkles as she recalls the experience. "As for how I bested it... It was odd. I let it talk much longer than I should have." It had been this almost physical pull, an impulse to stop and listen, to consider the demon's words. "Eventually, I got angry, because I knew I shouldn't have been listening. And then I simply got tired of hearing it talk."

[circleprodigy]

Well, with that hand offered, Garahel is not going to refuse. He sniffs at the hand briefly before nuzzling it, rumbling happily as that area behind his ears receives proper attention. Inessa nods solemnly as she listens. "Not trusting anything there is always wise. It's easy to say, but harder to hold onto once actually there. I know; mine was a pride demon, masquerading as something insignificant, trying to goad my own pride into being my downfall. I...don't like to think about how long it took me to recognize it for what it was."

She winces a little at that, but her smile returns. "You handled yourself well. Whatever happened before, in the end you came through. That is what counts, Vasran."

[unharrowed]

And Vasran returns the smile, basking in the thrill for another moment. She raises her glass.

"To making it out alive." From the Circle, from the rebellion, from the Fade. There are so few of them left now.

[circleprodigy]

"I can drink to that...and spot you a refill, as well." Since they're seated relatively close to the bar and it's not too crowded for them to be overlooked, she'll do just that. A spiced wine for herself and more of what Vasran's having, or a different drink if she'd prefer.