faderift | A bottle of white, a bottle of red

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A bottle of white, a bottle of red

WHO: Open to anyone that wants wine and warmth and a little company.
WHAT: Wine and no whining.
WHEN: After the mage meeting wraps up.
WHERE: Close to the healing tents, specifically the Orlesian section.
NOTES: There will be wine, drinking, unwinding, and nibbles.

The meeting had been stressful for just about everyone involved. Tempers had flared, opinions made known, a few rounds of confetti and arguing before some manner of accord. Whether it would last or however long it might? No one could truly say. In the interest of being quite done with the stress and headaches such debate brought on the Orlesian healing tents clearing out the potions, bandages, and poultices in favor of what cushions and braziers they had on hand for light and for heat. The space was open, warm, and inviting with an odd assortment of tin mugs or clay glasses set around flat side tables propped up with stones to keep them from wobbling and tipping the whole mass onto the ground. There are some dried fruits and hard cheeses, dried meat and hard crusted bread- whatever scraps they could scavenge or spare and a few bottles of wine or brandy. Across the entrance to the tents there was a sign:

Bring a bottle or food to share for entry.

Tacked below was a list of rules:

Everyone is welcome, don't make a fuss
Don't hog the wine
Don't hog the food
Don't fight or argue
If you finish a bottle open a new one, don't recork it for someone else to find
Clean up after yourselves

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Well that was proper and kind of her and he accepts! Taking a quick drink as he listened to her before setting the cup down. But seriously the entire reason why he came here in the first place was to learn about what was going on around the hold and world at large. Talking to people who have been drinking is far better than just snooping around. "I take it that not everyone agrees with any accord you've reached though."

Sniffing for any dissenters, pricesly what he does best. If just out of instinct.

"There are those that feel we should simply reform the College of Magi and the Circles as they were run before the war, and those that feel we shouldn't organize at all and only look out for ourselves. I understand the reluctance and resistance- for those who lived somewhere the system worked-" Actually? No. She'd done enough of this earlier. "Tomorrow. I will explain all of this in great detail tomorrow. Tonight I have had my fill of such discussions."

Shut down then? Well dang it, alright he goes ahead and switches gears then. "Mind if I pour you some then?" The wine that is, he motions to the alcohol that she offered him. May as well help someone else take off the edge of their day, right? Not like he's got anything better to do at the moment besides trying to make heads and tails of these people.

Best way to do that is to make-- allies, acquaintances, not friends. He looks a bit troubled, but it's got a split second later as he waits for her reply.

"Find me tomorrow and I will explain as much as I am able, you have my word. You are new to this world but this afternoon was long and- I am weary of thinking of it." But wine? Wine she will take with a vague salute and a smile. "Not at all. Pour away."

It must be difficult enough for those tangentially related, let alone for those that have no true stake in the world. Especially considering his skepticism with magic.

"If you'll be able to do anything after today." Alcohol mixed with a long day? It'd be a miracle if she's still awake at all. Let alone coherent enough to answer any questions. Or does magic give them super-endurance? Well either way, he pours her a cup and hands it off to her. No need to ruminate over anything, it makes the wine taste bad.

"So is this what you do for fun after work? Drink and eat?"

"I am Orlesian." She waves a hand vaguely. "This is nothing."

A bottle or two, bed, and a potion for her head come morning before her meditations and all shall be well. The headache would be blinding until the potion kicked in, but it will have been well earned. "Honestly it is rare for me to have time between working and resting. I've students to mind, patients to tend, research to find something on the Fade that would explain your appearance or anything that is happening."

"I'm guessing that's a result of your magic voodoo?" He said it with a bit of snark, the alcohol finally kicking in and helping him to loosen up a tad.

Yes, this was exactly what he needed, to slowly poison his body, make his liver cry in agony only to wake up the next day with his head pounding once more and people screaming and yelling at every ear they could find. It'll be a fantastic night, but a shitty morning. And so Walker will make sure to enjoy every bit of it before the night terrors set in again. "But hey, sorry for adding to the load."

Edited 2015-11-08 09:15 (UTC)

"My country of Origin, Captain. My home. Much like your...United States, I think it was? I am of Orlais and thus Orlesian. We are known for our wine, our enjoyment of it, and our tolerance for it." She lifts her glass to him before taking a deeper sip. The wine is warm, the company pleasant enough, and music in the air. It is as close as it can possibly be to a leisure night from back home.

"Mm, it is no burden." She flicks her fingers in the air as though waving off something trivial. "It is something that needs to be done. Even if nothing but demons fell through the rifts, I would do this research. You and those like you are an unexpected complication- but you are a specific complication. It makes trying to find an answer more difficult but it means whatever we find? Will be equally specific."

"Sounds familiar." Almost like a parellel version of a certain country back home. In fact her accent was familiar as well, welcome even, almost as welcome as the wine. But that's for someone else to figure out, not him he's no science fiction writer. In the mean time he drinks deeply as well before lowering it and moving to pour both of them more.

But being called a specific complication is better than being called a demon, he supposed. It doesn't hold the same stigma as the other name at least. He looked at his hand for a moment. "Well if you ever need a lab rat, guess you got one in me."

Edited 2015-11-08 19:26 (UTC)

"Right now it is all theory. Demons come through to this side of the veil? Someone summoned them, they possessed someone- we have answers and they are many, nuanced, and thoroughly complicated. Something that is neither spirit nor demon falling through? Unheard of. Trying to find some mention of it in the texts we have available is an exercise in futility." She shrugged. One way or another they will find an answer and perhaps get these people home.

"Perhaps it's much more simple than what most people realize." He shrugged as well, downing more of his beverage, looking deep into his cup as if it would hold the answers. Before gazing back up at her. "Well that's for another day too, I guess."

"That would be our luck." Overthinking all of this. "I am by no means an expert. Supposedly there is one with the Inquisition, but I have not seen them or heard of them since we arrived."

"Well let's see if we're lucky enough that they come forward in the next few days." He offered her a smile from behind his cup before putting it down again. "Anything new besides the obvious then?"

Small talk, he's trying to make small talk here.

"Aside from news from the mire and a plague of some sort that needs curing?" Really. Is this what they've come to? Her voice was as dry as the white wine passed around as she rattled off a list. "Apparently there is a new cheese in the kitchens they are not certain what to do with, a baffling case of all the custard having gone missing, someone is trimming the elfroot in the herbal garden improperly while harvesting it for smoking, there is a rumor of a stockpile of stuffed nugs hidden somewhere in the hold, mages that attempted to set a cook on fire are in charge of keeping her hearth clean for the next week, and I have heard there is some sort of 'king of owls' or 'king of pies' lurking in the basement."

"I meant with you." He grunted, reclining slightly. It was hard to make any other form of conversation when you didn't really know a person. Still he'll play along if she doesn't want to talk about herself.

"...Think I'd prefer the title 'King of Pies' to 'King of Owls'."

"Nothing that does not somehow connect to my 'voodoo'- or are you willing to believe in the fact of magic in this world now?" It was difficult to talk about yourself when a good portion of who and what you were was dismissed offhand.

Scratching the top of his head before sighing." Guess I'm not really sure what's real and what's not anymore." But at least people flinging fireballs around is easier to stomach than...certain things. "Not the first time I've seen something I can't quite explain or believe."

"Welcome to Thedas. Seeing things you can't explain or believe could be any day that ends with Y, at least as of late. If anyone told me a year ago that I would see a hole in the sky and people from other worlds would fall through? I'd call them delusional." As they are on this side of the veil and not the fade, it simply has to be some manner of possible.

"And if someone told me that I was going to fall out of that hole in the sky I'd think the same as you." Or, perhaps he has no right to think of someone like that. "Especially if they told me the people on the other end can fling fireballs and lightening around silly-nilly."

"My preferred element is Ice. Easier to control, offers for far more precision than fire or lightening." A demonstration wasn't precisely requested but she turned over her palm, crafting a knight in full plate mail in an obligatory heroic pose.

He watched closely, curiously while an eyebrow raised itself. He didn't see any tricks, slight of hand or other. Instead it just...formed right before his eyes. His mind tried to rationalize it, but it was no use. At the very least it was more real than the cries inside of his head.

"Interesting, must help to keep the wine cool."

"Among other things, yes." She curled her fingers around the knight, melting it back into flakes of snow that she shakes free afterward. "Most mages have skill with the primal school as they are the easiest to learn while young."

Well that is rather interesting, isn't it? Ice, fire and lightening all at your will? He could see the applications for their uses, has seen them. Granted that fridge or ice box could prove to be just as effective, he wasn't about to go there. The rules here are different, as is the knowledge that these people hold. Or at least as near as he could tell, it will be a while yet before he's actually able to make heads or tails of their written language, but he's smart and thinks that he could be making some headway.

Or at least more headway than his people skills are right now. It might not be home, but it still felt a bit odd, wrong to be here and not in a cadaver alongside his friends. "So you've been doing that for a while then?"

"Since my magic manifested as a child, yes. I froze a fountain- not all mages are quite so fortunate- those that manifest with lightening or fire tend to have far more disastrous stories. Some have even lost their families to their gift before they ever understood what was happening." She pauses to sip her wine, considering what he likely knew (precious little) and how much she is of a mind to tell (quite a bit).

"Afterward we were sent to Circles- establishments where mages learn to make the most of their gift and to control it safely. Some of them were better than others, a large part of the disagreements earlier today came from the various experiences of those that lived in them- and those that never had to." Apostates could be quite fortunate.

Well if she certainly has his ear if she really wants to tell him. Leaning back, he chewed on her words for a moment, taking a sip of his wine to choose his next words. This is obviously a rather sensitive subject. "They're not your run of the mill, boarder schools, are they?"

Or would the proper term be were? He's still getting caught up on the goings on in this world.

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Closest thing I have to him smiling. ._.

It is close enough!

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