faderift | (no subject)

WHO: Fenris and OPEN
WHAT: Catch-all post! Reading, drinking, stalking slavers, shopping unsuccessfully
WHEN: July/Solace
WHERE: Around Kirkwall
NOTES: No warnings

Reading Practice: Library

It’s at least nice and quiet at the library. Though he’s still not exactly the most comfortable in this place, it has that going for it. Fenris paces around uneasily, until he finds a good spot to settle. Once there, he opens the book he has with him, sighing heavily as he gets back to the page where he’d left off.

Slowly, he traces a finger along the page, mouthing each word one by one. It’s a laborious process for someone who’s still getting down the basics. He’d gone over this section together with Bethany, and while it had seemed fine at the time, it’s always a little more challenging on his own. But at least he's made some progress.

He also has a piece of paper and quill and ink with him. Every so often he - just as deliberately- copies down a word he finds interesting, to work on those writing skills as well. Some of it makes sense. Some words are also just outright baffling, not at all how one would assume them to look. So far, the paper reads, in very scribbly handwriting:

foul

mine

drink

sla ug hte r (??)

evade

open

distress

an d ras t a e andraste Andraste (?)

"Who invented this?" he murmurs grumpily. It's as if they wanted to make it as deliberately inconsistent as possible.

Hanged Man

Fenris quietly sips drink after drink, hanging back for a while as people come and go. Finally, he turns to whoever’s near him at the bar, cards in hand.

“Why don’t we have an exchange? I’ll teach you a game I know, if you’ll do likewise for me.”

He’s never thought to find out what sort of card games rifters play, or possibly games from lands here that he knows little about. With a few drinks in him, he’s certainly interested in finding out. It’s a question he’ll have to pose to more people, later, he thinks.

Slaver Hunting: Kirkwall Alley, Night

Taking down slavers is still something Fenris does on the side… he just can’t help it, when he catches wind of something going on, he needs to do something about it. Such as right now. It’s late and dark, as he makes his way quietly from the docks, slowly stalking the one who he’s been keeping track of lately. But as he creeps along, he’s getting the distinct feeling of being followed or watched…

Soon enough, he heads down an alley, turning to confront whoever else is out there. With his blade drawn, he steadily advances on the person.

“What brings you out here?” And why are you interrupting his important business, damn it!

Armor Shopping: Lowtown

The merchants in Lowtown tend to have the best deals, so that’s where Fenris is now, strolling through the area, eyeing what’s for sale. He’s considering picking up something new, potentially, if he can find something that’ll suit his preferences.

“Is it true? Do you really cast a spell that can rip out a man’s heart?”

Oh, no, here it goes. Fenris turns to the merchant who’d spoken and glares. “Do I look like a mage to you?”

The merchant looks uneasy, but soon enough, they’re interrupted by a woman selling flowers. She comes along, and upon seeing Fenris, promptly places a crown of pretty pink flowers on his head, quicker than he can react. The woman giggles. “It suits you! Consider it a token of appreciation. You’re that friend of the Champion’s, aren’t you?”

“And he magicked the heart clean out of the Arishok, I heard it, it’s true,” the merchant chimes in.

“I heard it was the whole Qunari compound that he fought, single-handedly!” another flower girl emerges out of nowhere, and suddenly there’s a pretty yellow and blue flower both being added to his hair.

The last thing he wants is a scene, not here among the merchants. Sigh. He's just going to start backing away, now, ok. It's clear he won't be able to talk sense into any of these people. The pretty flowers in his hair are largely forgotten as he works to step away.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"And free to become possessed, with no way to resist, free to use magic in dangerous, unrestrained ways. Not to mention... well, you need only look to Tevinter to see what else can come of allowing mages full freedom without any barriers. Blood magic, and other dark uses are all too common." It unsettles him more to think of all mages now being out there, without any sort of restraint upon them. But had the Circles really done what they were supposed to? He doesn't want to admit it, but they do seem to have their flaws. "At the very least, I would argue that mages need to be taught about the dangers they could face... or cause."

Not all of them could get lucky and have the right upbringing or personality to make them strong, after all. It's something they'll never fully agree on, he knows that much, but she has given him... a few things to at least consider.

"I'm sure there would always be violence, with or without magic." Ok, so they can agree on that much, anyway. He's always had a cynical outlook about people as a whole, so he can't deny that war would still exist, either way. "But magic enhances that destructive potential... or the destruction is enhanced by magic. There's constant threat of demon possession, for one thing. Not to mention the ways in which the more inventive mages can twist magic for their own malevolent ends."

He frowns a little. As if they would care about elven history. There are undoubtedly records, somewhere, surely, but still... "The history of such places are of little interest to the magisters, as you might imagine. Other than those tales of conquest, of course." Not that it matters, right? It's all too far in the past for him to feel any connection to it, himself. Just as he feels no connection with the Dalish or even the city elves of these more southern nations.

"I have seen Templars given over to demons. I have fought sylvans in the Brecilian Forest. Once even a cat spoke with a demon's voice, biding its time to possess but a simple girl not even a mage that it might walk in this world as you or I. Do you think yourself above temptation? Do you think us all so weak-willed and spineless? There were no demons or abominations in my childhood or teaching, not once have I ever given in if a demon has come, I have sent it on its way." The hackles are up at his words because this is always what it is and will be ever since the mess of a war unleashed upon the world that she has to deal with when she wished no part in it. "There is teaching then there is bludgeoning."

There's also giving a person a cup of poison after they've been thirsty so long they'd drink anything, when they're a child looking for trust but Morrigan will say nothing of that. Perhaps not yet.

A scoff comes out of her at that. Malevolent ends. "There was a woman in the Deep Roads who allowed all of her number to become Darkspawn to claim the Anvil of the Void, the last survivor one we met with in that dark miserable place." Her voice is quiet but not lacking in steel for it. "What say you of Orlais? Of that mess with Gaspard, Celene, Briala, the burning of Halamshiral for it all? Do not believe that magic is the sole cause, tis always intent, the darkness that might lie in the heart of any man or woman, for I have seen things touched not by magic that would chill you to the very bone."

Morrigan raises an eyebrow at that, wonders perhaps if what he thinks of magic and mages colours too much of his other opinions as well. "Tis surprising, Tevinter is a place that has pored long over all facets of its history as I have heard. If there were things of import, they might be of benefit to the Inquisition." Celene's influence reached only as far as her own nation after all, there were many places Morrigan couldn't go to find more.

“Then what do you recommend? What’s the best course of action for mages to strengthen themselves? Anyone can become possessed, that’s true… but mages are in more danger, regardless, you can’t deny that this is a fact. Letting mages go around unprotected entirely is still a dangerous prospect. They still need training, even without the Circles.” He sighs, looking down toward the pages in front of him, frowning a little. “I've met both weak and strong mages. They all face the same increased risk of danger. Perhaps some are fine on their own… but not all. Those who are weaker stand a better chance if they’re taught how to resist.”

Magic still seems tied up in all of the worst things he’s experienced and witnessed. True, enslavement in itself doesn’t require magic, after all. But the ones who happened to be enslaving others in Tevinter were all magisters, which… says something to him.

“Perhaps... it’s not the sole cause.” It takes a lot to get even that far, but that’s as far as he’ll go, in admitting that. The years with Hawke may have improved his attitude… somewhat… but at his core he can’t stop distrusting magic fully. “Perhaps not in the case of Orlais, and perhaps not in… certain other cases. But if it’s there, it can make only things worse. Believe me, I’ve seen things myself. I’ve seen individuals who would be corrupt regardless of their power… but that power allows them to do even more unspeakable things that they otherwise couldn’t.”

It’s true, he may be a bit dismissive toward all things Tevinter. “They absolutely have a great interest in history, and a great many scholars… But they have a tendency to make that history their own. One must be prepared for the biased interpretations of events. Still, there’s plenty there to learn of, if only to avoid repeating their mistakes...”