(Open) They'll steal your patents for the sun

[youwonscience]

WHO: Cosima and YOU
WHAT: Open post/catchall
WHEN: Kingsway
WHERE: Gallows and environs
NOTES: Prose or brackets are fine. If you want to talk about another scenario/your wildcard ideas before diving in, DM me or hit me up on plurk/discord. All comers welcome!

I. Infirmary

It's almost easy to forget that she's not in good health, sometimes, which Cosima supposes does credit to spirit healing. But she also never misses her twice-monthly appointments, too conscious of the potential consequences. Since she's here anyway, she brings a few goodies from the kitchen for people well enough to have them but not well enough to fetch them on their own. She's conscious of people who seem to want to be left alone and people who could use a friendly word. And of course, by now she knows the regulars, staff and otherwise.

II. Cosima's lab, the Gallows

Damn, Cosima, back at it again with the microscope. Ever since the phylactery negotiations -- and arguably, since Tevinter, though Cosima wasn't even there herself -- she's thrown herself into her work, harder than ever. They still have so much to learn, and it feels like the conflict is multiplying faster than they can keep up sometimes. She's doing her best, and frustrated she can't do more, though she keeps the latter sentiment to herself.

III. Docks

There's nearly always activity at the docks, so it takes some doing to find a spot that isn't in anyone's way. But Cosima has managed it, and is using her find to watch the water. She's alert enough to her surroundings, since it never pays to let your guard down out and about in Kirkwall, especially as a rifter. But the water makes her feel better. Not like home. It demonstrably isn't home. But as if it's a place that at least makes sense to her.

IV. Wildcard

[Choose your own adventure.]

Comments

[youwonscience]

"Oh, well, if I'm eating the cookies for charity." She smiles and takes another bite. "How are you two doing? We haven't really talked about not-work stuff since, uh. Everyone was sick."

Since she and Church deep-friend every potato within reach and then started fading into nothing, yes, that time.

[aceso]

Christine smiles, glad Cosima enjoys it. That plague was a difficult time for everyone, but at least they learned more about lyrium as a result of it, and no one died.

...Except maybe that Rifter who disappeared.

"Very well, thank you. I have recently moved my mother to Kirkwall, but not into our place. I know she and Church would kill each other within a day. The lead up to the move was a stressful time for me, but Church was very supportive, as always. And yourself? How have your days been when your eye is not to the microscope?"

[youwonscience]

"Herian makes sure I look up now and then and eat sometimes," she says with a small smile. "Oh, and my sisters are here, I don't know if you've met either of them?"

Have you been offended by Sarah or disturbed by Helena, Christine? Because those are the likely options.

[aceso]

Christine's eyebrows lift in surprise, because she wasn't aware of Cosima's family being here, even though she spoke to one of them on the crystals.

"I have not! It must be a comfort to have them close by once more. Did they arrive together? And how long have they been here?"

[youwonscience]

"Yeah -- I mean, they came through the same rift, but they're from different times. It's been disorienting for Sarah, I think, because she remembers more than either of the other two of us do. But it's nice to have them here. We didn't grow up together, so I'm still getting used to having sisters, like, as a concept. But I care about them."

Sarah moreso than Helena, maybe, but even though Helena's past gives Cosima pause, it's hard not to be won over by the ways Helena tries to build bridges. Almost an afterthought:

"Helena and I are experimenting with nail polish. It's, um. Decorative color. For your fingernails. Popular at home, but I'm not sure if Thedas is ready."

[aceso]

Hearing of siblings gives Christine a slight pang for Sam, since he was as good as her brother, but he went back home and left a giant-sized hole in her life. Seriously. Sam's really tall.

"Oh, you would be surprised what has been done in the name of fashion here. If the Orlesian aristocrats can think it up, it has been done already." The pause that follows is Christine wondering if her next question is too delicate a matter to discuss, but seeing how Cosima brought it up, she forges ahead.

"May I ask why you did not grow up with your sisters?"

[youwonscience]

"Oh, sure. It's, um. Kind of a long story, but the shorter version is that where I'm from, doctors have a method for starting a pregnancy outside the human body, and then transferring it into the mother. Which sounds kind of horrifying without more context than I can probably give, but it's really not -- it's a pretty standard way for couples having trouble conceiving to expand their options. But because of some unethical practices, my parents ended up with me and my sisters ended up with other families, and none of our parents knew."

She's pretty sure she's already told Church the "clone" thing, but it feels like not entirely her information to share now that Sarah is actually in Thedas. And it would be even more complicated to try to contextualize.

[aceso]

Christine's expression quickly shifts from the horrified that Cosima recognizes to the intrigued look of a healer who couldn't begin to do something like that for someone. Clearly in Cosima's world, they weren't willing to let infertility stand. It's admirable, even as it sounds disturbing to bring life into the world initially outside a womb.

"I have found through the stories of others that 'unethical' and 'science' tend to go hand in hand." Because yes, she knows what Church is and what was done to him, and that was a horrifying conversation that had her taking off and not talking to him for awhile. It was because her mind couldn't contextualize what he was at the time.

"But you have them now, and I presume you met them at home first once this deception was uncovered? What are they like?" Christine is interested to know about others' families. It's only her and her mother now, and there's a woman that Christine hesitates to tell people about, because she is quite the handful.

[youwonscience]

"I knew Sarah at home. Helena only by reputation; we didn't meet properly until she arrived here." Cosima considers what to say. "Helena is... unexpectedly sweet, sometimes. She's had a very hard life, and it's made her prickly in some ways, but she cares about Sarah a lot. I think she and I are warming up to each other."

Glossing over the more worrying factors involved in what she knew of Helena's reputation was originally for Sarah's benefit, but Cosima is starting to get attached in her own way.

"Sarah is a little rough around the edges, sometimes, but she's really brave. Strong. She doesn't care about people easily, but once she cares she cares a lot. Both of them... they had much harder lives than me, back home. But we're still family."

[aceso]

"Sarah and Helena," she repeats, to make sure she remembers the names. Her eyes narrow slightly in a thoughtful way and she considers what she knows so far. Cosima's words suggest they were secretly split up outside the womb when they ordinarily would have been together in a womb at the same time. Then again, this whole concept is new to Christine.

"That sounds terrible for them. How unfortunate. You are triplets, then?"

[youwonscience]

"Sort of. We're genetically identical, which means we come from the same source, I guess you'd call it. But the two of them have the same surrogate mother. They were in the womb together, like regular twins you'd get the natural way. They were split up after they were born. My mother was a different person. My parents, they didn't have any more idea than I did I had sisters running around out in the world."

Cosima's worried she's explaining this poorly, but she's not sure how much or how little detail is helpful in this context.

[aceso]

"Surrogate... a substitute mother? I think I understand." She smiles faintly, shrugging a shoulder. "At least, I think I do. I am sorry to hear of what all of you went through. I would love to have a sibling. If I discovered I had a secret one, I would be overjoyed to have them, but angry at the time we had lost."

There's a pause. "Of course, we would have lost time anyway while I was in the Circle." She draws a deep breath before speaking in a tone that suggests she's trying to lighten the mood.

"Everywhere's just horrible, isn't it? No wonder alcohol was created."

[youwonscience]

She laughs, a little. "Yeah, I mean. Pros and cons? There are things I miss about home, but there are things here that are amazing we don't have. And hey, both our worlds invented music and art, as well as alcohol. All kinds of ways to cope."

With a smile, she adds, "But hey, thanks for listening. I know the particulars are confusing, but you definitely got the point. Even if I didn't know them until recently, they're still my sisters, and I'm glad to have them. And I don't know what it was like, in a Circle, but I can imagine it was hard to be cut off from your family without your say."

[aceso]

"And dancing!" Because what is music without dancers enjoying it?

"Of course, Cosima. I will always listen." Her expression turns a bit sheepish, which is rare for her. "I confess I find myself so deep in my work that I am missing out on getting to learn about those closest to me. A failing I wish to rectify." She exhales a breath and takes one of the cookies.

"I could say a good deal about my Circle experience, and you would never hear the exact same story from anyone else. We all experienced things differently in our minds, even if we went through the same events. Needless to say, I missed my family very much, but fell out of touch with them quite early on. Other mages were allowed to write, receive gifts — even visit home. As you can imagine, those were the rich ones, or those who excelled at playing the Game."

[youwonscience]

"Hey, I'd never blame anyone for burying themselves in work. I know how that goes." She's definitely done it, more than once.

"I never really know what's OK to ask? Not like I think most people I know would get offended, just more... I don't want to bring up something painful through ignorance. I know the Circles were different from each other, but it sounds like there were varying experiences even for people in the same particular Circle."

[aceso]

"Mm, it is true. I think most of us have a willingness now to get our story out, but those of us in different fraternities view things in different ways. Neither side is completely quiet."

As is often the case, those who speak loudest are the ones with the most extremist views, who tend to make their own side look unreasonable. Christine has always thought herself a strict Libertarian, but her views have softened these last few years and she admits to some Aequitarian leanings as well.

"I suppose if you hear any of us freely speaking of our experiences, asking questions would not be unwelcome."

[youwonscience]

"That makes sense, I guess. And I know Herian would talk to me, if I asked, it's just..." She shrugs, a little unsure. "We're all so busy, all the time. With really important shit. When we have a minute, I think I'd rather let people rest. And I've picked up a lot in two years and change, so at least now when I ask questions I feel slightly less likely to just step in it through total ignorance."

[aceso]

"It is kind of you to take such things into account," she says with a thoughtful tone. "You are always welcome to ask me, or we could just enjoy the cookies and relax, hm?"