A bottle of white, a bottle of red

[fleurdesel]

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

Comments

[fleurdesel]

So long as it did not fall into explaining the nuances of why everyone was shouting at each other earlier in the day? She doesn't mind sharing. This was all background information, something anyone that knew something of mages in this world knew. "We live there and are taught- but aside from that? No. Each Circle ran differently. Some were as prisons, others like those in Tevinter are more prestigious universities but they've vastly different opinions of Magic than the South. Here we are seen as dangerous if left unchecked- and when we are of age we are Harrowed. Part of what makes a mage a mage is a connection to the fade- the realm beyond the rifts you may have seen before you fell through. When we dream or when we die- everyone goes there save Dwarves. Mages have a tighter connection to it and use that to reshape the world around them with their magic. As you saw- Demons are from the fade as well. They are drawn to us like moths to a flame."

[sandsofhell]

Well now he's heard quite a bit about this "Fade" already. But everything else? Completely new. Nobody's really opened up to him about such things before now. Still it opens up a whole slew of other questions, like what makes these "Tevinters" have such different views from their neighbors? What makes these Dwarves so different from everyone else?

Perhaps those questions could be seen on his face as well, as his eyebrows arch up in thought. "Sounds complicated." Was all that he could really mutter for now. That was quite a bit more information that she had unloaded on him than he was expecting. "What exactly makes them so attracted to you?"

[fleurdesel]

"The going theory is that we are easier to possess." That was the strongest in the Spire, that is what she'd been taught. "Mages strongest in the spirit school of magic- or Spirit healers, with a closer still tie to the fade? Are supposedly at even greater risk. But I have never had difficulty differentiating a Spirit from a Demon. Other mages and those that are not mages and encounter them? I cannot say."

It wasn't impossible to be possessed if one wasn't a mage- incredibly rare? Yes. But not impossible. She couldn't recall offhand any stories of those that had been, though.

[sandsofhell]

"So they lock you in a tower?" It almost sounds like a fairytale. If he was Lugo he may have cracked a joke about that, or several as they talked. "Can't be that easy though right? Like you said, you're not exactly trying to freeze me ore any others here."

In other words, it can't be all either, when someone has power, someone has something useful or has learned something useful, are usually the ones that are picked out and ostracized. "Must've given you a growing wanderlust."

[fleurdesel]

"Some circles allow trips out to the surrounding cities, some send mages out to provide their services in times of war or plague or famine in return for coin. As a healer I was allowed out, with an escort, to tend to the ill and injured of Val Royeaux and the surrounding countryside. I saw more than most in the Spire. Honestly? I was happy there. The library was well stocked, I was able to do my research, I could study and refine my skills and teach them to others. Not everyone had so fortunate a time in their circles." Otherwise there wouldn't be a war and a truce.

"Possessions are- I can't say. I've only ever had the one demon attempt it during my Harrowing. To be certain we are strong enough to not we are taken and made to face one in the fade. If we refuse we are made tranquil. If we fail and are possessed? We are killed. If we pass? We are considered mages fully rather than apprentices. Or rather that was the old system. I do not know if it will continue."

[sandsofhell]

That also made sense, if she spent most of her life there then it was only logical that she would come to see it as a second home. Of course not everyone must have felt that way, as she pointed out.

Not everyone's that fortunate.

"Change comes quickly, and catches us all off guard." Some handle it better than others. Once again, he drowned the rest of his alcohol, emptying his cup before sighing. One more before he had enough. "So, what did you do for fun?"

[fleurdesel]

"I will drink to that." She raises her glass and downs the rest of her wine, pulling another bottle from one of the side tables to fill both of their glasses. "Tease templars. Dance. Find wildy inaccurate texts on spirits and the fade and do dramatic readings of them for my fellow Enchanters. Write my family and see exactly how much I was missing by not being involved in The Grand Game and what sort of husband with which I managed to avoid being saddled. Test various ways of applying magic to the fermenting process of grapes to see if we could make a better wine- a Circle in Nevarra managed to perfect an ice wine with magic but we hadn't quite sorted out the how of it for our own take on it before..."

A vague, all encompasing gesture to the camp outside the tents. "Everything."

[sandsofhell]

He lets her fill his glass again this time, listening to her talk as she did so. "Alright, you like to do everything there is to do for fun..." Walker scratched his ever growing beard once then twice before downing more drink. "...What would you say is your favorite thing to do off of that list? It can't be the dramatic readings, or seeing what man your parents want you with. Though I bet making wine is a close contender."

The last part was said with a smirk and a pointed stare towards the bottle and her glass.

[fleurdesel]

"Is there a particular reason you are curious about how I spend my leisure time? Are you looking to take up a hobby?" Not that she minds the curiosity. Were she to find herself thrown into an entirely different world she'd be both terribly curious of everything and thoroughly bored out of her mind. "Aside from enjoying well made wine? Dancing. I have not had much reason to do so for some time."

It hasn't been exactly safe to do so. She has students to mind and patients to tend to. That doesn't conduct itself well to having a healthy social life.

[sandsofhell]

"Curious I guess, not many people here open up that quickly." That is, he doesn't really open up to other people that much. With varying reasons as well, all of which end in, 'they won't understand' or 'I can't tell them'. So listening to someone else talk about themselves and their thoughts is not only insightful to this world, but also somewhat therapeutic and helps to make him feel human.

"This isn't a time to dance? Would think that with all alcohol and food, people would be more rowdy." Again, he kept that smile, feeling more relaxed than he has for a very long time.

[fleurdesel]

"Give them a few glasses of wine and try smiling. Most Fereldans and Marchers, and many here are of those countries, are made so much more comfortable by a smile." Not that a smile proves anything other than someone has all or most of their teeth and isn't quite so dead as to be unable to bare them. Honestly it is something she should probably try more of herself but- she did not need to be liked. She simply needed to be listened to when it came to her students and her patients.

"I lack a partner, unless that was an invitation?" She can't say she minds the idea.

[sandsofhell]

Then it might also surprise her that, not only does he have all his teeth, but that they're also rather white and well kept. Don't see that everyday in a medieval setting,r isn't? Magic or no. Nice teeth aside his liver is probably screaming at him to stop drinking as he downs more wine. "Alcohol tends to do that."

Make people feel more loose and open to others.

"Not much of a dancer." Mostly he just goes with the flow, not really dancing dancing so much as moving his body. "But I won't say no."

[fleurdesel]

There is something a touch unsettling by how straight and bright his teeth are, like little marble stones, but as his smile isn't malicious it doesn't worry her as much as it ought. It is simply another oddity of him, something of his world.

"Neither me. It has been some time-" But she sets her glass aside all the same, the hand she offers him somewhat tentative, but made none the less. "Before the song changes, yes?"

[sandsofhell]

He was a bit hesitant at first, but slowly sat up and reached to grasp her hand loosely. "One song." He said, putting his own cup off to the side as well after polishing off what was left inside.

[fleurdesel]

"One song." Her arm tenses, fingers curling in a reflexive flinch that she stills quickly enough. This is fine. This is nothing. It is only dancing. She shakes off that fear with a shrug and leads him to where space had been made for dancing.

[sandsofhell]

Slowly his hand curled around hers as he felt her flinch slightly, though his fingers still held onto her hand loosely. He himself probably shouldn't be spending his time like this, not when his friends were...not around anymore. But those thoughts slowly melt away as she leads him to a cleared spot to dance. "Ready?"

[fleurdesel]

"As ever." She managed a smile. A thin, fragile thing, but a smile none the less. The music was pleasant, the tents warm, and the space not so crowded, the song distantly familiar. Enough that the steps came to her- even if she had to take her skirts in one hand and lift them so they wouldn't be in the way.

Because this is me forgetting this.

[sandsofhell]

The music was unfamiliar to him, however. It comes close to some traditional music back home, but the beat was different, the sound was different and the atmosphere...was about the same as what one would expect at a party. Still he would do his best to keep up, opting to subtly let her take the lead as she seemed more familiar with the steps. His own, still bandaged hands continued to hang onto her own hand gently.

The alcohol made him feel somewhat dizzy, but also somewhat more relaxed and open in his movements.

[fleurdesel]

It took a few turns before she could recall everything easily enough to be a proper lead. The steps were simple enough and each ended in a turn, gradually pulling them around the space cleared for dancers. It wasn't terribly complicated and it was thoroughly repetitive, enough that she could offer soft pointers until Martin caught on. They wouldn't win any awards or notice in the court anytime soon- but they weren't tripping over anyone either. She'll happily count that as a win.

[sandsofhell]

And catch on he did, rather quickly as well. Before long he would be following in her footsteps, sways and other movements. Listening to the melody being played while keeping an eye on his partner. To him he counts not stepping on her toes as a big win.

[fleurdesel]

True to her word the one song winds to a close and so too do they, his hand curled in hers for a moment longer as she actually huffed a soft laugh. "Thank you. This went better than I thought it might."

[sandsofhell]

"Glad to have helped someone, at least." It made him feel more human than he usually does. A way to escape the nightmares in his mind. He gave her warm hand one small squeeze before slowly pulling it away.

[fleurdesel]

"It did at that. Have a good rest of your evening, Captain." She had commandeered enough of his time. With a dip that might have been something of a curtsy were she more sober, Adelaide wove her way back to the nearest source of tea.