faderift | [Open] Carve Your Name On Hearts

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[Open] Carve Your Name On Hearts

WHO: Bethany Hawke-Darton and You
WHAT: Bethany does what Bethany does - charity, kindness, teaching, research and a whole lot of knitting.
WHEN: The month of
WHERE: Kirkwall Proper, the Gallows
NOTES: I warn you of sap. That is all

Charity For The Wardens - Hightown

There is an advantage to being famous (and being related to the famous), and that is that is a great deal easier to talk to the merchants. Being married to Aleron, beyond being a wonder on it's own, let her speak to the nobility -- but sometimes the nobility only had two silvers to rub together on a good day. Merchants, though, knew that she was close with Varric and were more willing to talk to her than just any other nobleman's wife about her charity.

Which of course, was the Grey Wardens.

You can find her talking to a group of merchants, telling probably for the hundredth time, the story of how Marian Hawke took on the ogre, and adding in, "You see how necessary it is to have the Grey Wardens! Imagine a creature like that, tearing through Kirkwall? It could do the damage of half the Qunari forces in half the time ..."

Charity For The Wardens - and a few other people

Bethany has been gifted with a very rich and along with that, a very doting set of in-laws. Her dear 'Maman' and sister Ravonild had a tendency to ... compete in that area, and that meant that Bethany was usually drowning in every colored silk gown and every piece of large jewelry they could find. She kept one or two dresses, made sure anything that was family in origin got put into their safe -- and the rest she carted off to sell. Usually to the Hightown merchants, because they could get her a better price, but she did go to Lowtown as well.

The money was divided with a heavy sum towards the Wardens, but she always kept some gold and silver on the side to give to the poor. Large donations in small coins, because a piece of gold could get you stabbed in Darktown. You could probably see her right outside Anders's clinic, making sure families got some coin, some food, and of course knitted blankets.

Knitting Hours

Bethany usually kept at least one to two hours of her day open to sit in front of Sina's Forest, as she had taken to calling it. She would have her balls of yarn, her knitting needles, and a table set up for charity to the poor -- but now she included items for sale - shawls knitted from fine Orlesian silk yarn, finely stitched cloaks, and the like. All going towards the Warden, as a helpfully painted sign pointed out. As it was colder, she usually bundled up in her own new cloak, but she would put it down immediately to help anyone who came up to her. Sometimes you might see children, gathered up around her seat as she pulled out a book and read to them, having them sound out the words with her.

Library Hours

Yet she couldn't spend her entire day doing good works - there was research to be done, so most afternoons found her in the Gallows Library, either knitting in her lap as she turned pages, or she was so engrossed that she leaned her dark head against her hand, absentmindedly chewing on the end of her quill.

In those moments of intellectual fugue, it is altogether too easy to sneak up on her, if you would like.

Insert Random Scenario

(Just want to talk to Bethy? Hang out with her at the Hanged Man? Let me know!)

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And suddenly there is a canine presence by Bethany, as Garahel plops his head in her lap, looking up hopefully while wagging his tail. Normally, he naps while Inessa is reading, but he woke up a little early and can he get some attention?

Inessa, frowning in thought as she takes another book from her pile, looks over and sighs. "Garahel...you know better. Go lay down, it's still research time."

Bethany jerked up with surprise, before she let out a laugh as Garahel put his Sad Sad Puppy face on her knee. She gave him a few good head rubs, before she tutted. "You heard Mum. You should be lying down."

Garahel rumbles happily, just glad for some affection since evidently he's so starved for it. He huffs as Inessa gestures for him to lay down, but does so without whining for a treat. She's discouraged that in the library, not wanting to attract ants and such.

Glancing over, Inessa smiles wryly. "Thank you for backing me up. It's not good for him -or us- if he gets used to having his way in here. Besides, I won't make him wait too much longer." A regretful glance to her books, knowing there's so much more thant needs to be done...but she didn't bond with a mabari to not give him daily exercise. That and the whining and soulful eyes are too guilt-tripping to ignore.

"Well, we pet-parents must all stand together. We cannot have our mabari thinking they can just have us roll over all the time. Even if they are adorable." She beams at Garahel, before rubbing her own face as she looks at her own books.

"Are you getting any further in your own studies? I feel like I am being stymied all over again."

Sighing, she leans back in her chair and shakes her head. "...no, not really. Research for either project is slow going, as you might imagine. So little is known about red lyrium, and we are it for cutting edge knowledge. I have been trying to research the regular kind for comparison and insight, but I might have to request additional books--again. They are starting to tire of my requests, so I don't look forward to that encounter."

She's fairly itching for some tea, but it wouldn't be fair to get Garahel's hopes up only to drag him back here again. "What are you researching?"

She gives Inessa a sympathetic look, and then sighs herself as she looks back at her own pile of books. "I am trying to pin down Corpheyeus's history. Who he might have been, in the past. It is ... as you may have guessed, as tedious as it looks and about as vague as one can get. Everything on the magisters who breached the Golden City is just stories - legends and Chantry rhetoric. I am having a hard time finding Hard Facts that will help us."

It's definitely gotten chillier lately... so Fenris has on the scarf, hat and gloves, and shirt that Bethany had given him. He's coming by the area when he pauses to watch her reading with a small group of children. They're eagerly sounding out words with her. Occasionally one of their voices rises in triumph when they've figured it out, excited when they get it right. Fenris knows the feeling, even if it's usually more internalized for him. Still, those moments when it all just clicks has made the process worth it.

They seem to be close to finishing, so he's fine to wait until then.

"All right, last line, who wants to read it?" Bethany asked, and a small six year old girl stuck up her hand and wiggled it. She gestured to the girl to come forward, which she shyly did, and began to slowly read aloud.

"I've had it, had it, Mister Klug!
Down, into that hole you dug
Down with the thug
And the slug
And the bug..."

Bethany clapped her hands when the girl finished, as did everyone else, and only then did she look up and smile at Fenris. Waving him over. "Look children, it's another hero of Kirkwall."

"Does anything remain of the prison used to hold him? Other than that, perhaps Weisshaupt has something...but that might as well be as unreachable as the Golden City itself." It's not as though the First Warden is just going to let them waltz right in, not after everything.

And now that Carver's back, Bethany has an extra set of arms to help cart those knitted blankets about as she hands out the extra coin and blankets to the poor of Lowtown. While Carver's not entirely thrilled with his job, he doesn't really mind, and it beats having to schmooze the nobles of Hightown in hopes of getting their money. He can only stand to hear the stories and gossip so much before he wanted to flip a table.

"Maker's breath, how many blankets did you manage to knit?" He knows she knits a bit, but damn, sister.

"Well unless I am willing to sneak into a fortress filled with demons ... which honestly might be both options." Bethany sighed as she looked up at the ceiling, huffing out a breath. "But still, the fortress in the desert might yield better results. Have you - well - have you tried going to talk to the dwarves directly?"

Bethany looked over at Carver, her lips curving up on dimples as she stated simply. "Enough to help these people. I started knitting sometime in the last year and - welll, I just never stop. It is a good way to focus myself and I enjoy doing it for other people."

She leaned over to hip bump him, giving him a little smile. "Besides, we always wanted people to do the same for us."

"It's an idea that remains on my mind...as well as returning to the Temple of Sacred Ashes' former site. It was rich in lyrium before the explosion, but all that anyone saw afterward was the red. If we could determine precisely what happened, there might be progress." Or just as likely, more questions.

"Should you decide that is your course, I'll volunteer our time if we can spare any." She gestures to Garahel, who's settled down but still has his eyes half-open. He wags his tail upon being noticed.

"The same to you, Inessa." She gave her fellow Warden and friend a warm and encouraging smile, if not weary around the edges. "We can do a couple of trips to horrible places to see if we can finally figure out these answers."

She smiled at Garahel, her brown eyes bright.

Inessa echoes that exact tone in her own smile, nodding as she taps her fingers on her book. "More likely than not, they'll lead to more questions, but I don't mind that as long as there's some progress. I need to focus on the anchors as well, but that is painstakingly slow. A previously unknown phenomenon requires so much more study." And normally, that would thrill Inessa but her tone is more one of concern than anything else.

"Do you need any help with that? I've known a few of the Rifters personally - if you have questions I'll be happy to answer with an outsider's view." She paused, and then grinned faintly. "You know, like the dozen or more you probably already have."

Inessa begins shuffling her notes, tucking away the red lyrium dilemma for now as a smaller yet no less important task can be done without leaving the library. "Hm...well, I am compiling a survey, for those bearing anchors. It's not fit to be submitted to the public, yet, but I want to ensure that there are no glaring oversights...."

She tipped her head, before a questioning look settled in her dark eyes, "Did you want a fresh perspective on it? I ... wouldn't mind. Especially if you are willing to go over my Corphyeus notes."

"Of course, that seems a fair trade." Inessa continues talking while surveying her notes to be sure she's offering them in the right order. "Church made some interesting points, but otherwise I've had little feedback yet. Ah, here it is. It should be in the right order, now...."

She went over the notes, her gaze thoughtful as she nodded her head. "He's very blunt, which was good. There's a lot of hard facts we haven't had before ... how strong is Church? Can he close a Rift by himself?"

Inessa taps her quill on a piece of paper, thinking. "I don't believe any rifter has the power to do that on their own; it's always in conjunction with others, I believe. But I do know his anchor has evolved and giving him abilities beyond rift closure. Whether it's the passage of time or the sheer amount of times he has used it, I can't say."

"It's utter madness. I don't think I've seen you put those needles down since I've arrived." Carver's kidding, mostly. Sometimes he swears she juts knits all night or something. It's the only explanation he can think of for the sheer volume of knitted things she's produced.

He snorts. "I seem to recall wanting people to give us jobs more than anything."

She rubbed her chin, her brown eyes narrowed. "You know - a lot of the anchor bearers are getting stronger. And with different powers."

"Well, you see how we have these things to give out to the poor people of Kirkwall! Isn't that marvelous?" She smiled at him, her gaze bright as she turned to give another set of blankets to some children.

She dimpled, "That too."

Inessa lowers her quill, frowning in thought. "So far, it's either a defensive shield or bursts of energy. What if there are more uses on the horizon? Or a threshold, where risk outstrips power. Not that possibilities are going to be included in the survey itself, but I'm trying to anticipate how unknown magic might evolve."

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[Open] Carve Your Name On Hearts

Library

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Knitting

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Charity #2

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