[OPEN] build a bridge or maybe two

[wheretheferngrows]

WHO: Fern + various starters and OPEN
WHAT: Catch-all for the month of November.
WHEN: Early through mid-November.
WHERE: Kirkwall and the Gallows
NOTES: None yet.

I. AT THE DOCKS (ARACELI AND KORRIN)


The trip from the Gallows to the Kirkwall docks isn't a very long one, but time feels strange to Fern lately, like it travels at a different speed while she's seated at Sina's bedside. Sitting in the boat while the ferryman pilots their way across the channel towards the city, she looks pensively out across the water, then towards her new friend seated beside her. She fiddles with the end of a lock of her hair, chewing at the corner of her mouth.

"Thanks," she says after a pause, "for inviting me to dinner."



II. TRAINING GROUNDS (NELL)


It's startling for Fern to realize that actually, she's quite good at offensive magic.

The training grounds are mostly empty this morning, which gives Fern plenty of time to work through the small selection of spells that Nell has given her to work with, so far. The fire spells are the ones that come most easily to her, she's discovering, whereas her attempts at an ice wall generate something that more accurately approaches a drift of slushy snow. Nell hasn't, strictly speaking, given her any instruction in how to tackle electricity spells yet... though that doesn't stop her from deciding to attempt one.

Realistically, it could have gone much worse than a bit of a shock, and hair that now stands on end as though subjected to too much static electricity.

Fern hisses and shakes out both of her hands, which still smart from the backfired spell, and hastily tries to comb her hair back down into submission before Nell shows up.



III. GWENAELLE'S HOME (GWEN)


While hardly Fern's first visit to Hightown, this is the first time she's ventured anywhere near the Vauquelin estate--and today, she's meant to walk right up to the doors and request to be let inside.

Or, well. To the front gate, as it were.

That's where she hovers now, a bit after the prescribed time that she was meant to arrive for her lessons but nevertheless present, with an effort made to appear washed and tidy. She even took a bit of care tie her hair back from her face with a bit of satin ribbon, and has some of the wonderful writing supplies gifted to her tucked into the satchel slung over her shoulders.

She's as ready to learn as she's going to get. ...Now, if she could just sort out how to get past the front gate.

"Um. ...Hello?" she calls out.



IV. THE LIBRARY (SIMON + OPEN)


(OOC: The thread with Simon is closed, but other characters can pop by at other times!)

Apparently if Gwen and Nell have nothing else in common with each other, they're both proponents of this cruel mode of torture that is apparently called 'home work,' and Fern doesn't like it at all.

She's sequestered herself in a corner of the library where she's fairly sure she won't be bothered by the mean little scholars who gave her such a hard time earlier in the summer--but frankly, the books open in front of her are doing a better job of reminding her of how stupid she feels than anything those other teenagers might have said. She sits with her arms folded over her chest and a black scowl bending her brows into a dark furrow, all of her fancy writing utensils and tools for learning resting, elegant and untouched, on the tabletop.

"This is so stupid," she says to--well, no one, really. Exhaling, she picks up the pen like it's the hardest thing in the world to make herself do, and just fiddles with the end of it, popping the cap on and off again.



V. THE STABLES (MELYS)


It's pissing with rain one night after Fern slinks into her chosen hideaway after a day spent at work in the gardens, at her training with Nell, and working on her letters with Lady Gwen... and, as usual, an hour spent sitting quietly at Sina's bedside. It's like entering a different world, crossing the threshold of the infirmary to keep a vigil by her bed, sometimes with Nari, sometimes alone. (She stays away when Sorrel is there. It seems wrong, otherwise.)

Tonight, a bit sodden to match her dismal mood, she's warming up with a mug of tea and a blanket slung round her shoulders, alternating between feeding bits of dried fruit to Rooster from her palm and stroking his nose affectionately.



VI.  THE CHANTRY GARDEN (OPEN + ELLANA)


(OOC: The thread with Ellana is closed, but other characters can pop by at other times!)

Fern promised she would look after the garden for Sina, and so that is what she's going to do. The trouble is, she hasn't quite dealt with <i>this much</i> much before, much less on her own.

She's brought a small kit of gardening tools with her, as well as her sturdy boots and gloves (and a small lyrium potion, just in the event she needs to lend some strength to her creation magic for the task ahead). Now she stands in the middle of the garden, looking around in vulnerable awe at the growth her friend had created. The leaves that remain are a greyish brown, but when she rests a hand against the trunk of a nearby tree, she can feel the pliant, living strength of the wood and bark. It's only sleeping; in spring, it will be whole again.

That's more than can be said for Sina. Fern squeezes her eyes shut, squares her shoulders, and sets to the task of cleaning up the dead twigs and branches from the forest floor.



VII.  WILDCARD (OPEN)


(OOC: Surprise me! Or hit me up on plurk if you want a specific starter.)

Comments

[serannas]

Ellana's green eyes go wide as she watches, not because she fears a fire starting, but because it's an impressive bit of magic. When asked for her opinion, she beams back at Fern.

"It's amazing! I've never seen a glyph like it before that just warms like that. I wonder if it could work in bathwater too. Have you ever tried?"