[Open] Mage Lyfe 101

[justice_is_blond]

WHO: OPEN, Anders
WHAT: Mage conferece on practical magic
WHEN: Kingsway 24th, all day
WHERE: Just outside Skyhold
NOTES: Plotting post and IC announcement.

The tables and chairs are set up, there's some parchment and a few quills for note-taking, and a table on the side has pitchers of water as well as a motley assortment of cups. He's done what he can, done the footwork and talking, and now has to hope it catches and spreads.

And hope Purrelden doesn't tangle herself around something with her leash again.

[ooc: hop on in, put up a header! If you have any questions, feel free to ask them on the ooc post or ping me on Plurk at Nadat!]

Comments

[sunshinethroughgrey]

"Anders, as if I would ever use my dimples for evil." To answer, she dimpled at him cheerfully, before returning his nod, and going back to her new flock of students.

[justice_is_blond]

"There's that, at least." Anders sighs. Sometimes he doesn't know with Velanna, but he cares about her a great deal which means he'll accept her being... her.

"How do you feel about the teaching? Did it go well for you? Would you be interested in doing it again?"

[justice_is_blond]

He comes back later, when it's all said and done, and gives her a smile.

"So. You had questions?" It's time to see if they can work the non-fun kinks out, if there had been any.

[sunshinethroughgrey]

She had a pensive look on her face when he did return, although she managed a smile for him as she gestured towards the Herald's Rest.

"A few. For one, do you think I am being too vague with the subject matter?"

[justice_is_blond]

Walking with her, Anders frowns before looking over at her.

"I'm not sure. On what part exactly? You were showing examples and talking them through it. Or do you mean as far as the larger goals and wanting education to spread?"

[amygdalae]

Bruce doesn't care what Anders thinks of him. He's never cared what people think of him, because in the end it doesn't matter. Nothing here was permanent, not for him. The Inquisition wasn't going to be here forever. In time they too would be gone, though Bruce is certain he'll have moved on by then, if he wasn't dead. As it is he's already stayed here for much longer than he ever anticipated. It had only been supposed to be a few months to lay low after what happened, but now...

Well. He supposes it doesn't matter anyway. Nothing matters, when you're a monster and that's all you'll ever be remembered as. He's made his peace long ago, on that day... after that day.

"If you're done," he begins, and rather than anything else he might feel he's just tired and weary and right now he simple wants to be as far away from Anders as possible. He just wants some peace and quiet more than anything else. "There are other people who are going to use this spot, and I want to clear out as soon as I can without any more interruptions."

[amygdalae]

"It is a start." That Bruce can agree on. But as to how effective it'll be is another matter entirely... and not one to really think about now. Now what did matter was Corypheus and the threat that he posed. "I just hope it'll be enough for most people."

Most, because there'll always be people who feel otherwise, people who think otherwise, people who desire otherwise. He's not going to be so naive as to assume that everyone will actually agree on something. It's just a matter of how well the balance can be maintained.

[justice_is_blond]

Anders exhales and shakes his head.

"Fine. Go hide. I don't know why I even try. One day you'll take a swing and it's gong to backfire, though, and I won't be there to help. Not if you can't be bothered to try and help others like you, if you can't be bothered to reach out and be more."

He steps away... and keeps going. Some people aren't ever going to grow. Apparently he's been wasting his time here.

[eolasemah]

Sina may be a patient, but she's also a healer herself, and understands the rationale. Catching onto Anders' insecurity, she lolls her head toward him with a sympathetic smile. "We're all here to build trust, lethallin. Perhaps it'll take a while, but I think we'll manage." She too has had her fair share of hostilities leveled her way, though it's true that few can compare to Anders in that department.

[justice_is_blond]

Again his smile grows faintly. He's bad at hiding what he feels, despite how he tries, and the fact that things are actually working have his heart on his sleeve all the more than usual.

"Thank you, Sina. I'm... I'm hoping." Actually hoping. "It's a good start. And momentum could grow from it, could lead to larger gatherings that aren't just mages, encourage people to come and learn in a setting where there's magic all around..."

This is just the beginning, he hopes.

[sunshinethroughgrey]

"Precisely, to the larger goals of magic ... or precisely, how to use magic to benefit one's self and everyone else without, you know, fireballs and the like." Bethany's smile was wry. "I'm not entirely sure I sold all the finer details."

[justice_is_blond]

"It seems..." Anders trails off. Fairly straightforward to him, really, but maybe it was hard to grasp for people who didn't work hard healing regularly.

"If a war isn't currently happening, if someone isn't currently threatened, then the concerns of people are on their livelihoods. Like repairing their farms so their druffalo don't escape, as you were teaching. Building a new barn. People will pay for those things to be made more sturdily and quickly than they can normally make them. Inessa was teaching how to make paths that a wagon can travel on, which is invaluable in some terrain, and how to store food with ice. Who doesn't want their food to last longer? The possibilities are endless."

[eolasemah]

"There are reasons," Sina admits, "I just wish we could take them back." With a sad smile, she turns her hand over to squeeze Korrin's. "I'll see if Eirlys is willing to teach me anything. I can always stand to know more about herbal remedies."

[eolasemah]

There was a time when Sina looked down on the Outclan, particularly Keepers in training who had somehow fouled their relationships with the Dalish- but between Merrill and Pel, both of whom have become quite precious to her, she's beginning to open her mind a bit about the various reasons one might have for leaving.
Not that she ever will, not willingly.
"Much," she says cheerfully, picking herself up with a bit of difficulty. "I'm so impressed by what can be done with a little nature magic. I think if I tried to do the same, I'd barely displace a grasshopper."

[eolasemah]

"One thing at a time," she cautions him, gently resting her hand on his arm. "But consider where you were a year ago, and what it looks like now. I don't think you're wrong." She looks back out at the others. "Seems to me it's just slow-going. But I think rushing would be a painful mistake."

[sunshinethroughgrey]

"You ought to be teaching this class." Bethany laughed, her eyes sparkling, before her lips curved more seriously, "I should have to think about how to get everything put together. So they can see the whole picture, and not just the bits and pieces."

[justice_is_blond]

"I can't teach everything," he says with a flash of a smile. "Put together a lesson plan, sit down and think about it. Because I'm going to hold another one of these, and try to make it a continuous effort until everyone is used to it, expects it, accepts it."

[justice_is_blond]

Anders takes a slow breath, smile turning sheepish. "It would be. And I've... You're right."

A year ago he'd been in hiding, horribly hungry and afraid, but worse of all alone. There'd been no hope or thoughts of his future. He'd been lost. There'd been no plan. Now he's here, and everything is different. But it's taken time and he needs to remember that.

"Sometimes it's a little difficult to not try to fix everything at once."

[sunshinethroughgrey]

She gave him a curious sidelook, before arching an eyebrow, "Are you telling me that you're planning on starting a college right here in Skyhold, Anders?"

[eolasemah]

"Don't I know it," Sina says with a sheepish smile of her own. "I suppose being here is a lesson in patience for all of us."

[justice_is_blond]

He looked at her, smile fading as he started thinking before slowly talking.

"Why not? Why not start a model of what could work? Why not let people see it working? If the example is there it could give hope as well as giving an opportunity to refine it. I'd, I'd need to speak with Merrill, but... I don't see why we couldn't do that."

[justice_is_blond]

He looks around before shaking his head. "It very likely is. The added good news is that it could be a lesson in a great many things, and not just to us, but to those who look down on mages and elves as well."

A beat. "In time. Eventually. As we proceed slowly." He's bad at patience, but he can work on it, at least.

[sunshinethroughgrey]

She stopped, before she looked around.

" ... I, well. I don't know. It doesn't seem like a bad idea, at that."

[madame_de_fer]

Ah at least he knows who she is, and she him. Though it's dreadfully rude and presumptuous to begin a conversation without so much as a greeting of offer of introduction. She will not be so ill-bred. Then again, the man is Ferelden. Perhaps that was the problem all along. The stench of mabari seems to have the worst effect on most of them.

She allows only half a second of icy nonchalance. Just enough to convey she is not pleased, if he has half a brain in his head. She suspects not given his reputation as Thedas' most notorious abomination and murderer. When she does turn to Anders, there is no smile, but her expression is one of polite cordiality, perhaps. What it more is, is something neutral which cannot and will not allow anyone to mistake the exchange for something friendly. She does the same to Cole whenever he happens to appear out of nowhere. Vivienne has spent far far too many years establishing herself as incorruptible and will not allow these demons in their midst to tarnish it.

"I don't believe we've been formally introduced." Wrong. She knows they haven't. But manners. "I am First Enchanter Vivienne, Enchantress to the Imperial Court, and Mage Liaison to the Inquisition."

Ah if only she had any sort of just cause to put him in a block of ice and leave him. Instead, she waits calmly to see if he's got any sense in that violent head of his whatsoever.

[justice_is_blond]

The curl of his lips spreads, becomes a smile that doesn't come close to reaching his eyes though it could fool most onlookers.

"Mm. Are you, though? Not the Mage Liason bit, or Enchantress to the Imperial Court. But First Enchanters are done and gone, Lady Vivienne."

He inclines his head slowly, feeling a cool sort of nervousness settle around him. This is the leader of the opposition, probably the greatest roadbump in the road to mages having the option of happiness, choices, and whatever levels of freedom they desire. She wants her tower back, her gilded cage, and she'd drag everyone back to torture and abuse for the sake of her title and pride.

"I'm Anders. That's the whole of what I go by; the Circles saw fit to take my name from me as they saw fit to take everything else. Pretty titles, though. I'm sure they're... a comfort? You can call me Warden or Healer if you've need for words beyond names."