{ OPEN } I'm like a rubber band until you pull too hard

[aceso]

WHO: Christine and OPEN
WHAT: One more mage with an unaccounted for phylactery is suffering.
WHEN: mid-Guardian
WHERE: The Gallows
NOTES: OOC notes and a general warning for pain and torture.

For those who take notice of such things, the usually busy Knight-Enchanter Delacroix has all but disappeared from public view. Every day, some spell is cast upon her, and because several have an area of effect, no one is safe if they're near her. She stays holed up in her office, trying to sort through paperwork and hoping it doesn't catch on fire. Her work in the infirmary and her research lab has ceased completely; she can't risk what she might do to the area or those within range.

But Christine still needs to eat, talk to collegues, and return home to Lowtown at the end of the day. And so she can be seen several times experiencing the affects of a terrible spell. The question is, will others be caught in it too?

{ ⚡ shock (aoe) ⚡ }
Avoiding as much of the Gallows as possible should be an easy task because she has an office, but Christine finds that runners are in short supply at the moment, and she has to deliver certain messages and reports herself. All is going well until she finds herself nearing the infirmary on the second floor. She merely wants to pass on some notes to people like Carlos and Sam before leaving again, but before she gets to the door a blast of electricity hits her body and arcs across the walls and floor. Her body goes rigid as the spell runs its course, finally releasing her (and anyone else unfortunate enough to be caught up in it) and causing her to hobble to the wall to lean against it for support. She mumbles an Orlesian curse word and closes her eyes. How much more of this can her body take?

{ ❄️ blizzard (aoe) ❄️ }
Anyone that has reason to be on the seventh floor of the central tower where the project offices are might be feeling a little frosty, and on following the chill, they might just freeze solid for as long as eight seconds before the spell ends. Once it's over, the hallway is still a little slick with ice, and following it will lead one to the Red Lyrium project head's office. Knocking on the door will result in a voice calling out, "Enter!" and the sight behind the door is an office covered in frost, with one very cold mage throwing kindling into the fireplace and lighting it.

"Were you caught in it?" Christine releases a sigh. "This is ridiculous. We can no longer sit here doing nothing about this issue."

{ 👊 stonefist 👊 }
Christine peers outside her office to make sure the coast is clear before she leaves for the day. Her gait is brisk and with purpose as she tries to escape back home as quickly as possible. Of course fate would be cruel, and as she's descending the stairs to the first floor of the central tower a large stone materializes in the air and slams into her ribs, sending her flying down the steps to land in a battered heap at the bottom. For a moment she's still, but then she makes a pained sound that at least alerts those nearby that she's still alive.

{ 🃏 wildcard 🃏 }
The other spells affecting Christine are Sleep (AOE), Paralyze, Fireball (AOE), Chain Lightning (AOE), Earthquake (AOE), or Entropic Cloud (AOE). If any of those tickle your fancy, hit me up via PM, plurk (megoom), or discord (megoom #2520) to hash out details and get a custom starter.

Comments

[aceso]

Funny how a string of curse words is music to her ears right now, because it means Church is here. There's no way she'd be able to send him away from her to protect himself from these spell attacks, so he might as well come in to spend time with her, especially since it sounds like he took a spill on the ice. It's still a bit slick inside the office too, so she carefully makes her way over to the door, calling out his name. Then she opens it to find him on the other side, and she sets a hand on her hip, giving him a soft smile. Despite everything that's happening, she can't not smile at him and the fact he's solid again.

"I wish I could say I planned this blizzard to deliver you right to my door, but I am afraid I did not. Here; come sit by the fire."

[motherfucking_ghost]

"Fire. Warmth. Please. Shit."

He does, in fact, huddle in front of the fire. There might still be some frost on his eyelashes, but that'll get taken care of soon. But these are storms, sometimes very literal storms, he's willing to weather for the sake of his girlfriend.

"Enough ice over winter."

[aceso]

"I am sorry," she says, though it's in no way her fault. She sits beside him, leaning her shoulder against his and releasing a sigh. "Every day a different spell is cast upon me. Today it was unfortunately Blizzard. It has a wide radius." Her head lolls down to nestle against him. "I am quite sick of this."

[motherfucking_ghost]

He lets out a shivery breath and lets the warmth of the fire, and the warmth of her presence, calm him. "We can't seem to catch a break. Someone's gotta have a clue, somewhere, even if I have to go out there myself and figure it out. At least you had researchy, medical shit you could do to help when we were sick; all I can really do is be here. Is that...enough?"

[aceso]

"It is enough," she murmurs softly, staring into the flames as she considers what needs to happen next. "It is blood magic, you know." Such an awful, terrible thing, unless it could be used against mages. Then the Templars were all for it, weren't they?

"I was eight years old when I was brought to the Circle, and one of the first things they did when I walked through the door was cut me and drip my blood into a vial. I was terrified, but the Templars and mages said this was a good thing. That they could find me in an unfriendly world if I ever got lost." Christine lets out a bitter laugh. "Lost. It is what they said to children because we did not yet know we might want to escape."

[motherfucking_ghost]

"I don't really get it," he says at last, taking her hands in his. "I've done some reading, and it's...like it's religious-based, is kind of the cause of it, seems like, but I just don't really understand it all. I mean, sure. Magic. Some people have it. Some people can set people who don't have magic on fire. That's...I get that there might be people who think that's really scary and dangerous. But then you have these...schools that aren't schools where some mages live their whole lives but then others can kind of do what they want, and then we've got the big guys watching out who may or may not be tormenting the mages, and some people want it back, and some people don't, and--" Does he ever take a breath?

"I dunno. Never had that problem where I'm from. I mean...not in the case of magic, anyway."

[aceso]

Christine's eyes watch his hands envelope hers, as she brushes a finger against his in a comforting gesture. Talking about the Circle system isn't always easy for her.

"It is a complicated issue. I want things to change, but in order for it to happen, the world must change, and I fear it is impossible. Certainly in my lifetime, at least. Do you know how nearly every town has a Chantry? My wish is for nearly every town to have a school for mages. A place where they are taught to use their magic, but not fear it. A place that they go during the day and then can return home at night. But how is such a thing possible when villages band together to murder mages? It is not. It is an ideal, not reality."

She tilts her head up towards his face, studying his features. They haven't spoken much of his world. Not since he explained what he is and what the people in his world used him for.

"It is so difficult to imagine a world where it doesn't exist. Who would I be in your world if I was not a mage?"

[motherfucking_ghost]

"If anyone even thought to lay a hand on you just because you can do some magic, I'd kill them." Normally it might be a boast or some...pleasant? thing for him to say to brighten her spirits. Now it sounds like a promise.

But his look at her question softens from the sudden rigid ice that had overcome it. Looks from the fire to her with a smile. "A doctor. You'd be a doctor, running around a hospital, healing the sick, tending the wounded. Or a researcher in a lab, making breakthroughs in medicine. You'd look good in a white coat."

[aceso]

Christine hasn't often given thought to who here might protect her; she's always wanted to be able to protect herself. It's why she became a Knight-Enchanter, when it's a specialization she never considered beyond being a lackey for Templars and someone meant to hunt down her fellow mages. But with the Circles gone, it can mean something else. It can mean being a magical combatant when the fight comes to her. And yet Church's words strike her deeply, and she slips her fingers in between his, squeezing his hand tightly in thanks. It means everything to have that support. He means everything.

"A doctor," she repeats, the word foreign to her. "Is wearing a white coat a requirement? It seems a bad color to wear when dealing with blood."

[motherfucking_ghost]

"...You know, I don't know? You just always see 'em with a white coat over their scrubs. Lab researchers, too, but they don't get blood on them. Presumably. But you've got a good bedside manner, and also, you don't take any shit from anyone." He brought up one of her hands, kissed the back of it. "Do no harm and take no shit. Like a real doc."

[aceso]

That makes Christine laugh and she repeats his words. "Do no harm and take no shit. I like that. All right. In your world, I would become a doctor and somehow keep my white coat spotless." Seeing how she's a total perfectionist, she'd find a way to make that happen. Maybe line her pockets with Tide on the Go pens or something.

"I know we do not speak much of your place in your world, but if things had been different, would you have still wanted to be a soldier?"

[motherfucking_ghost]

"...I don't know that it's a matter of want." If things had been different? Things would have to have been very different for him to even have a choice at all. "I guess...I would've, but...I dunno, maybe I could've been good at something. A computer programmer, or a pilot, or stayed a civilian and...do...something. I don't, uh, I don't have very much I'm good at."

[aceso]

"You do not think so?" she asks, genuine surprise in her voice. "Are you not good at cooking, and manual labor, and research? I have seen you do all those things. I have seen you face Red Templars, and a terribly pompous man who thought he was going to marry me. I have seen you in the Herald's Rest, inventing drinks and bar food. I have seen you at home with stacks of books, researching the Fade. There are many things you are good at here in Thedas."