(no subject)

[thunderproof]

WHO: Adalia and a bunch of other people
WHAT: Closed and open threads both backdated and current
WHEN: Throughout both Cloudreach and Bloomingtide
WHERE: All about Kirkwall
NOTES: this post will be left blank and all starters will be in the comments. contact me on plurk at salvatrice if you'd like a starter!

Comments

solas — shortly post-assistantification

[thunderproof]

❰ solas said that he didn't mind if anyone knew that adalia was showing him the orb from the black marsh, but she's not exactly advertised that fact all the same. she doesn't really have to — as the new assistant to the leader of the elven artifacts project, she has a perfectly legitimate reason to look at the orb herself. asking for solas' help is also perfectly legitimate — he knows more about elven everything than anyone else in all of kirkwall, so enlisting his expertise would hardly be suspicious. if asked, adalia wouldn't bother to hide what they're doing.

she hasn't been asked, though, and she's not going to volunteer the information until she is. once she got the orb in the elven artifacts offices, she waited for a moment when sorrel was away and would be for some time before she crystaled solas and told him to come to the offices. ❱

I have a present for you, ❰ she sing-songed, audibly grinning, before she cut off the feed and wouldn't say anything else. now she's waiting, sat behind her desk with the orb restig on top of it, watching the door for solas to appear. ❱

[dirth]

[ The offer to let him see the orb was not one that Solas had expected, nor was it one that he had imagined would bear fruit any time soon. His studies were more important and while he had made some progress in developing friendships with those involved - as much as he could, given who he was and his awkward place in the Inquisition - other things had taken priority. The sickness. The strike. Wisdom. Thinking about the orb had fallen low on his list of investigations.

It's what makes him a little shocked when he hears a voice over the crustal for him, recognising it before it cuts off. There's a brief moment where something like a fond smile settles across his features, and then he is lifting the crystal and placing it back around his neck, gathering his things as he makes his way out of the library and towards Adalia. ]

Isn't it customary to bring the present to the recipient? [ But he's teasing - while his friendship with Adalia is new and strange and odd in many ways, Solas cannot help himself. There's a gentleness that she inspires that he cannot quite manage to smother. ]

[thunderproof]

Well, this isn't the sort of present that I could just wander around with, ❰ adalia says, all faux nonchalance, gesturing at the orb on the desk. it's inert, as far as anyone has been able to tell, but if anyone could glean some new information from it, it would be solas. ❱

Sorrel will be gone for a little while, and I don't have any appointments to keep. We should be left alone for a fair while, and no one knows that I wanted you to take a look at the orb.

❰ which is to say: if all goes to plan, no one should know at all that solas has ever even so much as been in the same room as it, let alone looked at it closely. he'd said that he didn't mind if anyone knew he was interested in it, and maybe that's true and adalia is acting like some kind of secret agent for no reason at all. maybe he'll take anything he learns straight to the inquisition anyway, and the secrecy will have been utterly pointless.

maybe it won't, though. ❱

[dirth]

[ Truly, Solas hadn't expected her to hold true to her promise of allowing him to see the orb, but the reminder of the gift she had assured him would come shocks him ever so slightly. She cannot see him and, perhaps, that is for the best - his eyes widen and he's a touched shocked, hesitating for a moment before he manages to find his words. ]

You are correct. I should come to you, but only in this instance. [ He's already gathering his things and making sure that everything is in the correct place before he starts to make his move to where he knows Adalia is waiting for him.

To be able to see an orb, to touch it, after he had lost so much... It is a gift that he cannot ignore, even if he wants to disguise some of his eagerness. It is akin to the one Corypheus has, he knows that, and he knows that one as well as he knows the palm of his hand and the pathways of the Fade throughout Thedas; there's a desperation that colours him, and he feels on edge and intent, focussed as he strides through and around people. ]

I shall be there, shortly.

[thunderproof]

I'll be waiting, ❰ adalia says, bright and cheery and more than a little pleased with herself. it's always gratifying to give a good gift, she's always thought so, and this seems to be the best gift. surely no one could give solas a better one. she's the best.

...a bit self-aggrandizing, and entirely unnecessary, even if it's true.

while waiting for solas, adalia picks up the orb to look it over herself, holding it carefully in front of her and looking for... something. she doesn't know what she's looking for, really, and without knowing the purpose of the orb she can't try to backwards engineer a way to make it work, but hey, it's something to do while solas makes his way to the office. ❱

[dirth]

[ It does not take Solas long to come and find Adalia. There's an edge of careful desperation about him as he goes, quick-footed and sure, moving through the Gallows and up and through the quiet groups of people until he makes his way to her properly. There's no denying his excitement, the nerves that twist in his stomach, and when he steps into the room he does his best to mask the flood of emotion curling through him.

It's startling, he thinks, to see her standing there holding the Orb as if it is meaningless. Without someone to unlock its power, of course, the orb means very little - and with Corypheus holding his own orb there is no one strong enough, as far as he is aware, to awaken this one. Still, he strides to Adalia, tilting his head and placing his things down to one side. ]

I would suggest caution. We are still not certain about the nature of this artefact.

[thunderproof]

❰ as soon as solas appears, adalia holds the orb out for him to take, but when he suggests caution she looks between him and it, unsure. after a moment she motions to set it on the desk, raising an eyebrow at solas as if to say "would this be better?" ❱

I'm sure you have thoughts, though, don't you? Ideas?

❰ perhaps adalia is too confident of solas' knowledge. it doesn't feel like it, though — she has always, always known he was smarter than most of the people in the inquisition, and more than that that he is hiding more than most, too. he's an enigma wrapped in a mystery wrapped in the humblest of guises, and she's fairly certain her faith in him is not misplaced. solas knows what the orb is and what it can do, or at least has a good idea. ❱

[dirth]

[ The Orb isn't going to do too much to her in its current state, but it's better to be safe than not as far as Solas is concerned. He steps over to look at it, his eyes drinking it in, the urge to reach out and touch it incredibly strong. He knows that it's not going to respond to him or do anything for him, just as his own Foci did, but the hope is still there, bubbling under his chest. ]

I always have thoughts.

[ Reaching out, Solas lets his fingers brush over the Orb gently. Nothing happens. Of course it doesn't. Breathing out, he shakes his head, letting his eyes close for a brief moment before he speaks. ]

This is an orb just like the one Corypheus has. Were someone powerful enough to unlock it... The strength they would have would be great indeed.