faderift | Take me to the water's edge [open]

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Take me to the water's edge [open]

WHO: Rey and YOU
WHAT: Stuff Rey is doing for the month of Harvestmere
WHEN: ~whenever~
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: if you'd like a closed starter hit me up on plurk, or pm!

i. riverside

Rey can be found often standing on the river bank, a little ways away from the camp, where she thinks no one will see her. Even after her lessons have concluded for the day with Obi-Wan she'll come here to keep practising, picking rocks up from the riverbank using nothing but the Force, then throwing them out into the water.

Sometimes she sees if she can find the same rock and pull it back, other times she'll try to angle a smooth stone, perfect for skipping, just to see if she can skip it with her will alone. And sometimes she'll get frustrated with that and just actually physically skip stones, something she learned to do in the water troughs at the edge of Niima outpost when she was young.

ii. tower

Sleeping in the barracks was something that Rey wasn't quite comfortable with, too many bodies, too many people she doesn't know well enough to trust letting her guard down around. So for a while she'd taken to sleeping in nooks and crannies around the castle, wherever she could tuck herself to avoid getting trampled on or spotted. Finally she found herself a room that looked unoccupied, possibly due to the massive hole in the wall facing the valley. Rey is however something of an expert in patching up sad hovels into something liveable. She hung a heavy wool blanket across the hole, and added some nails she acquired to pin it into place when night fell and the wind blew.

Anyone who happens into the tower her room is located in, whether looking for her or not, may find her with tools spread out on the floor as she attempts to install a locking mechanism into the door. She doesn't own much, certainly nothing anyone would want to steal, but a lock will make her feel more at ease at night.

iii. hot springs

Rey can count on one hand the number of times she's used a bath with actual water. On Jakku every drop was precious and needed more for hydration than the luxury of cleaning oneself. Sonic showers were the norm, and even those had been fairly infrequent. She'd had a real shower before leaving to try and track Luke Skywalker down, it had felt bizarre to waste water in such a way.

Standing looking at the hot springs now, she still feels that way. All the same she needs to get clean, and she knows this is the best option, the other being the freezing river. She's getting better at tolerating the cold, but she does still have her limits. This isn't her first time here, but she's still unaccustomed to the concept, so it's late at night when she's less likely to run into someone else. With a little puttering she puts her things aside, before making her way into the water, letting out a sigh as the heat seeps into her skin. It's the closest she's gotten to the Jakku heat since arriving in Thedas, and strange as it is, it's not unwelcome.

After soaking it in for a few moments she sets to the task of letting her hair down, wanting to be in and out in as short amount of time as absolutely possible.

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Such people carry themselves without the burden of what magic means in Thedas. As well as without the dreams that come with demons tempting you. Mages hold onto that heaviness everyday. Christine nods.

"I am. One of those who was kept in a Circle before we broke free. I do not know if you have heard much about that."

Hermione has snuck off on her own to secretly practice her magic enough times that she can tell when someone else is doing the same. She's not sure if this particular person is trying to hide the fact that she's a mage or if she just wants some peace and quiet, so she doesn't interrupt her, even if she watches her from a little ways off, curious about her little project.

When the girl wraps up and turns around, Hermione realizes that she can't quite pretend that she hadn't been watching, and it would be rude to turn away without a word after being caught staring at a person. So she cracks a small, only slightly awkward smile, asking, "Is it harder to do your magic without a staff? I've never quite been able to determine if that's something only certain mages can do."

"The Force." It wasn't something that he'd heard of but he looked quite ready to accept it. Especially as he actually went to sit down while he stroked his beard and leaned forward to study her. There was always time to learn of something new in his eyes.

"Might I ask how the Force works? You mention it is energy. Is it the energy of the world? Of yourself?"

Cassandra, too, prefers to bathe alone, less out of any sense of modesty than simply because she enjoys the solitude. Normally she rises early, and makes do with a splash of cold water from a bucket after her morning workout. But she's up late tonight, and in the mood to indulge herself.

The hot springs, half shadowed in the nightly gloom, appear to be empty at first glance - though, to be fair, she doesn't look particularly hard before stripping down, smalls joining the rest of her clothing in a heap on the edge of the water. She stretches luxuriously, silhouetted at the edge of the water, before she steps in and sinks down at its edge with a sigh of her own. Her head tilts back, her eyes closing, and only once she opens them again does she notice the other figure, a few feet away in the water.

"Oh." She stares at the young woman, at a loss for anything intelligent to say. "I - had thought I was alone."

Rump Roast is more than happy to be picked up (Stroganugg is the clear favourite of all Yngvi's nugs for reasons that make sense only to Yngvi) and starts making pleased sounds. And pawing with his little hand-feets. The other two on the ground peer up as well, Yngvi leaning back because this always happens, everyone is tall, the world conspires against him.

"Tougher than they look, more slippery than an eel when they get going mind. There's a reason folk race nugs." Mad people wasting their money but it was money in Yngvi's pockets if they wanted to bet on the nugs then wasn't it? "Hauled me from Orlais to here though, so reckon one rock won't scare them now."

Lo and behold, Yngvi tells a truth. (Okay so Yngvi hauled them up the mountain but details.)

Obi-Wan finds her by the river, that morning, watching her ping stones off the surface of the water. It's an idle thing, with all the real intention and emotion of childhood behind it, and something about the moment makes him loath to disturb the peace. She has already progressed remarkably-- her control is improving by leaps and bounds, and he feels no sense of pressure, no need to push. Obi-Wan long ago came to trust his feelings, and so he stands, listening to the plunk of stone and snowmelt, the rush of water, and the wind-sound muffled by the encroaching mountains.

"I was thinking," he said, finally, "Today, we should begin with meditation, if you like. I'm interested to see if we can't pry more meaning out of the vision you mentioned."

Qui-Gon had done that too, phrased most directives as if the course of study depended entirely on his student, and now Obi-Wan found himself falling into the same habit. It made him smile to think of it, and for once without the accompanying pang of loss.

"Nor did I. Apparently great minds think alike, and yet find a way to thwart one another," she replies with a wry smile.

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to share? I don't bite."

She'd offer to come back later, but there might not be time later, or she may very well just pass out from exhaustion sometime during the wait. It can't hurt to ask, at least. She does give the wet knots in Rey's hair a considering look, however.

She's grown comfortable enough with listening to what the Force is telling her, that she can sense Obi-Wan when he approaches, but she doesn't stop until he speaks. The exercise she's given herself to do may seem rudimentary and silly to some watching, but she's been enjoying it.

Turning when Obi-Wan speaks up she smiles at his suggestion, nodding her head. "I'd like that. I've figured out some of what it meant on my own, certain things happened, but..." She presses her lips together, the smile of a moment ago fading. "There's still a lot of it that's hard to place."

It's a strange concept, to share a bath with another person, but she knows it's normal on some planets. Jakku was not one of those planets, because water was regulated for consumption to survive, for the most part. And you don't share a sonic shower.

"I can share. That's- common, isn't it?"

Rey can't help but smile at the pleased sounds coming from the nug in her arms and without really thinking about it she starts petting him. She didn't interact much with animals on Jakku, most of them wanted to eat her, but the instinct to cuddle something cute is apparently very alive within her.

"People race them?" She sounds astounded by the concept of these little creatures being bet on with a crowd surrounding them, but also curious. There's so much about this world that is unique and interesting, even if the technology leaves much to be desired. "Is that what they're bred for?"

Rey squints a little, trying to think how to phrase it. Maz Kanata's words tended to echo through her, whenever she thought of the Force, but Obi-Wan had been teaching her so much that she heard his words now, too.

"It's sort of both? It flows around and through every living thing. Some people are more aware of it than others, but it exists, regardless."

Rey was more aware of a new presence, if only because that is how she's wired. It was clear that the woman didn't notice her though, so she turned around with her back to her, equal parts politeness and not being sure how to react, until she hears the water break and a voice.

Turning around a slightly unsure smile on her face she shrugs her shoulders at the woman's statement.

"Obviously you're not."

"Not much. A prison for mages, I've heard?" That certainly would explain the way some of the mages act, like the world is terrifying to them, rather than amazing and new, as Rey reacts to it. She's only heard a smattering of accounts, and some from very angry individuals, so angry she could feel it radiating off of them when they spoke of what they'd been through.

Before people see the shard in Rey's left palm, they definitely assume mage. The staff usually worn slung across her back certainly looks like a mage staff. She looks confused for a moment by the question, as well as the unexpected audience, before a look of dawning crosses her face and she smiles a little, shaking her head.

"My staff is just for hitting things. I'm not a mage." Which she realizes sounds like a lie when she was clearly just floating rocks around, so she holds her hand up, palm open. Even though the arm warmers she wears cover half her hand, the green glow is unmistakable. "I'm from a different universe."

"I saw the demons," Rey replies, pressing her lips together as she starts to line the plate up on the door, making sure it's straight in the effortless sort of way that displays the fact that while she's never done this particular task before, she's done many similar ones that make her a natural.

"I'd never seen them before, either. Plenty of other strange things that have wanted to kill me, though." She'd tried to warn them off, at first. In her experience if you'd proven you were bigger and badder than something flesh and blood, it would back down. She'd been fortunate the Outsider had had her back on that one.

Iskandar considered that then nodded. He could understand that even if he didn't fully grasp it yet. Of course he was sure that had to do with the fact that he was perhaps not as aware of it as others might be. Like she happened to be from the looks of it.

"What of non-living things? Such as metal and stone?"

Noting Rey's muscle memory, Korrin doubts she needs much help at all, but will still do her part and hold things together until they can be screwed in properly. "Oh, yeah? What's the strangest thing you ever fought, before then?" Now that she thinks about it, that should be on her list of questions to ask all rifters. The Vashoth woman loves battle stories, especially ones that are odd in some way, shape or form.

"It is, but you needn't feel obligated on that account. If you'd rather spend the time alone, it won't be going anywhere." Mia's smile warms a few degrees, and he hand still remains at the fur-lined cloak at her shoulders.

"We all get precious little privacy around here, it seems."

"Obviously," Cassandra agrees. There's a slightly awkward silence.

"I did not mean to disturb your solitude. If you would prefer to bathe alone, I can return at another time."

"Something like that. It depends on who you ask, which Circle it was; things like that." All Christine can say is that whatever the new Divine decides regarding mages won't matter to her. She is never going back into the Circle.

Humans - elves don't really have the money and most of the grey folks Yngvi knows have been trying to murder him or in the same line of business as him so not inclined to owning small things and dwarves have their own sort of relationships with nugs - have always been an easy sell. Maybe that's what a human baby is like. All wrinkled and bald and weird looking. Yngvi would not be surprised. It makes a lot of sense why they keep them then get offended if you suggest eating them when times are hard.

"Up here you race them, surface dwarves know what we're doing because we're not so serious we can't take a piss without consulting everyone if it's allowed. Good thing to know if you ever have to go to Orzammar. But you shouldn't, it's terrible. Ale that comes from there is like if you brewed up an unwashed armpit. Down there it's food mostly but that's because they'll eat anything, even the poor. Most especially the poor. Oh and the hide. Makes good armour. I named all mine after food for the journey to give them motivation to keep running."

He is a good nug dad.

Privacy is actually something Rey has had in spades for a long time. Aside from preferring her own space when she sleeps, it's kind of nice to her that there's people everywhere in Skyhold. Granted it's as friendly as Niima Outpost at times, but it's still people actually working together rather than existing alongside one-another.

"No, you came all the way down here, it's not fair to send you off. I'm alone enough as it is."

Rey looks for a moment like she's considering taking her up on that offer, before she shakes her head.

"No, you're already in the water and it's late. I don't mind." She does mind a little, but she knows it's something she should just get used to. Sooner or later she'll run into someone who won't be kind about coming back another time.

"I didn't realize there was more than one," she replies, although it does make sense. There's so many mages, the single prison to hold them all would be massive.

"It's... nice that you've all come together here. To help, after everything you've been through." She has a lot of respect for the mages in this world, to have such power but not to have used it in a way that would harm those who weren't so gifted, even if they likely could have. It reminds her vaguely of the stories she'd heard of the Jedi Order, before they'd been all but wiped out.

"I think it depends, but it can flow through them, as well." She doesn't know, really. She's still figuring out a lot of it herself. The line about it flowing through every living thing was one she was borrowing from Maz. She could feel it, when she focused, but it was still a learning experience.

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Take me to the water's edge [open]

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