[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

[galvanising]

Nell laughs, and shakes her head. "Why, how many are there? Nevermind, next time. For now, just--focus. Concentrate on the magic flowing through you, what it feels like. You don't want to have to fight too hard against it if you don't have to, just direct it where you want it. Nudge it, shape it, let it do most of the work. But always remember that you command it, not the opposite. You want to pay attention to it and the shapes it wants to take, what feels more natural. But you never let it have control."

She is actually counting, as she speaks, more or less, fingers ticking off seconds against her thigh.

"Just a little longer. You're doing very well. Careful with that edge there, don't let it sneak away. Five, four, three, two..." she pauses on two, drags it out, meeting Fern's eyes to flash her a little grin, one brow raised in challenge. Just an extra few seconds before she says, "One, let it go. Good start. Add that to your homework. A minute every day. Don't try to go longer on your own, you don't want it blowing up in your face if you lose control. But pay attention to how you feel, and we'll work the time upwards when we meet."

[wheretheferngrows]

"Five, four, three, two..."

Holy buckets does that unfair, dragging time between 'two' and 'one' feel longer than just about any other stretch of time in this exercise. Fern has her lips twisted into a little grimace, frowning tautly, and muscles through that last tense moment, until finally--"One, let it go."

And she does, breathing out, and lets the fireball fizzle out into nothingness between her hands. Slouching backward, she drags the back of a wrist across her forehead, getting rid of little beads of sweat. "Right," she sighs out, catching her breath, "minute every day. Got it." She endeavours to sound much more confident than she actually is. She's fine!! This is easy!! Not difficult at all.

[galvanising]

"It'll get easier," Nell assures her, "You'll be surprised how quickly. It's a muscle like any other in some ways."

She takes a step back, giving Fern a moment to catch her breath as she turns to regard the targets down the other end of the space. "Fireballs next," she decides, "Smaller than that one, no need to hold them, just aim. Hit the bullseye five times and then we can work on a lightning spell. Alright?" The targets are arranged in lanes and she steps into one, a hand raised palm up, a small fireball shaped above her palm.

"How are things going otherwise?" she asks, "What do you make of the Inquisition and Kirkwall?"

[wheretheferngrows]

"All right." Conjuring and holding still a ball of fire requires considerably more energy, for Fern, than conjuring up a smaller one and hurling it towards the practice targets. She's got more enthusiasm for it than finesse, understandably, and probably has plenty of bad technique she needs to unlearn from her time as an apostate.

"How are things going otherwise? What do you make of the Inquisition and Kirkwall?"

She pauses before throwing the fireball towards the target, glances Nell's way, then frowns and lifts her skinny shoulders in a small shrug. "I dunno, really," she admits, then strikes the target, though not in the centre. She huffs at it, annoyed at herself, then starts to draw upon her power to conjure up another one. "I work in the gardens, and visit Sina when I can, but I don't... really know where I fit in here."

Another thrown fireball, and this one comes closer to the bullseye, at least. Fern frowns after it and dusts a bit of ash off her fingers. "I guess I'm supposed to be able to close rifts, too," she adds, looking down at the glove that covers the anchor mark on her hand. "But I'm still useless in a fight, still--" A pause, and a hasty, apologetic look at Nell, "I mean--much less useless than I was before, it's just--you know what I mean, I feel like everyone else around me is pulling their weight but me."

[galvanising]

Nell's watching Fern's form, both as she calls the magic up and as she aims and throws. Eyes narrow in concentration, and her head turns to t track the projectile down to the target before turning rapidly back to eye Fern's follow-through. She's listening, too, but she has priorities.

"Where do you want to fit in?" she asks, turning away to launch her own fireball down the range. She moves as if she has a staff in her hands even though she doesn't, fists still loosely curled and body rotating as if to avoid its sweep. She repeats the wind-up and motion again afterwards, no fireball in hand, reconsidering her own form, and then straightens up and steps back toward Fern. "If what you want is to get out in the field I'm sure they have jobs that are a step closer than gardening."

"Alright, the most important thing you need to change is your follow-through. When all of this is second nature you can launch fireballs off without looking, but for now, you need to be thinking them all the way to their destination, and following through with your body helps do that automatically. So. You're doing this--" she imitates, "Do this instead:" a more graceful motion, longer, arm left trailing in the air, finger-tips toward the target, for a moment longer. "But with the staff, obviously."

[wheretheferngrows]

Fern doesn't answer immediately--at least, not regarding where she wants to fit in. Possibly she's just not sure; she did make a promise to Sina, to look after the Chantry garden and make sure it stayed in bloom... but the time she spends around Nell, practicing her magic and growing in competence, is enchanting in a different way.

It's much easier, instead, to listen keenly as Nell gives her her instructions, and then turn to try to emulate her.

"Like this...?" she begins, frowns hard in concentration, then steps forward into the fluid motion as she'd seen Nell do before her. Her form still isn't perfect, but she's got more of a knack for this than she'd realized. The fireball is launched, and this time it hits its target, and Fern brightens, turning to look at Nell again with an eager smile on her face. "Oh, that felt much better--and not so much of a strain on my shoulders, either."