(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 man, good question. Hm." She makes a show of thinking. "Roller skating," she settles on, after a moment. "They've got these special boots with wheels on them, and there's this super highly polished floor, usually a big loop. You glide along, you hold hands. It's nerdy and kind of retro by my time, but it's fun. They play music, sometimes there are lights that flash in different colors. You know, for atmosphere."

I'm pretty sure Borodin was meant to be brooding and my phone tried to make a fantasy protag instead

[dashing]

Her smile widens as Cosima goes on, a mix of delight and bemusement.

"Roller skating sounds— adventurous," and she stops and tugs Cosima just a little closer, conspiratorial. "Can I count on you to safeguard me against the perils of it?"

HAHA I figured that was autocorrect of some kind

[youwonscience]

"Honestly, unless something goes really wrong, the worst you can expect is some bumped knees and loss of dignity," she says, with a small grin. "You could hold onto my arm until you got the hang of it, I'm sure you'd be a pro in no time." She leans up and presses a kiss to the corner of Herian's mouth. "Do you have ice skating, in Thedas? It's roller skating's much more dignified cousin."

[dashing]

The kiss makes her brighten. "My dignity is a finite resource, Cosima. That sort of injury hardly sounds minor."

Gently, she starts to tug her in the direction of the gardens. "Do you remember the heavy snow at the turn of the year?" Not long before the fever, if she recalls correctly, and so perhaps harder to remember, foggier. "Some were ice skating, as I recall."

[youwonscience]

"Oh, were they? I remember the snow, and I distinctly remember trying to minimize the times I had to be outside."

It gets so cold. Who allows that? It seems like a mistake.

[dashing]

Her smile is warm, with that, and she rests her hands on Cosima's collarbones, smoothes over her shirt light before curling her fingers into the fabric just so, and gently tugging her close. Conspiratorial, playful, as though she were checking Cosima's coat was sufficiently warm and properly done up in the dead of winter. "You are wise as ever."

And a pause. "Does that mean I should not have volunteered us for a camping expedition set for midwinter?"

[youwonscience]

She laughs, then: "...wait, did you really do that?"

[dashing]

A laugh, and she wraps her arms around her waist, pressing a kiss to her neck. "No, because I want you to still talk to me."

[youwonscience]

Cosima laughs, leaning into the embrace a little. "I'd still talk to you. I'd even gamely try to do the winter camping, but I can't imagine I'd be very good company under those circumstances."

The roughing-it-in-the-winter circumstances.

"How did you end up with such a delicate flower, huh?"

[dashing]

"A mystery," she replies, enjoying the warmth of Cosima leaning against her in the faint chill of the evening. "The same way you found yourself with someone so stern and rugged."

Gently, Herian rests her forehead against Cosima's. "One day we will get away for a few days. Somewhere warm, I promise."

[youwonscience]

Cosima closes her eyes for a moment, smiling. "A vacation. I'd like that. I promise not to get captured by anyone the entire time."

[dashing]

Herian laughs quietly, and just— lets herself enjoy this. The closeness, the comfort in it. They've both had so many challenges, and at times Herian has been the challenge, but even amongst all the difficulties and the danger, being with Cosima always makes her feel better. That has only increased these past months. Sharing burdens might not be the worst thing imaginable after all.

"And I will do my utmost not be dramatic." She takes one of Cosima's hands, and presses a kiss to her knuckles. "Would you like to sit here a while? The fountain is close-by."

[youwonscience]

"Yeah, that sounds nice." As they go to sit, she says, "How have you been? Really." They see each other daily, most of the time, but they're both busy enough that it's easy to go awhile without really talking beyond pleasant endearments and practicalities. She used to let that go, but not as much anymore. Not too long, at least.

[dashing]

Dutifully, she takes a moment before replying, does not simply say all is well and leave it be. Ever since those grim days where she looked to Tranquility, there has been a balancing act. Even when she is on easy, solid ground, she remembers that the abyss exists, and she needs to watch her footing, and let Cosima help her where need be, just as she wishes to help Cosima. It's a clumsy metaphor, she suspects, but such things have never been her gift.

"I am... sorry that Saoirse has departed from Kirkwall, for now. She is a dear friend. And I am... I wish I had made more time to acquaint myself with Prompto, before..." He disappeared, as rifters sometimes do. If she tried to say his disappearance had not been jarring, had not terrified her on some level about what could happen to Cosima, she would be lying.

Even so, she gives Cosima a smile. "I cannot control all things. I am... trying to be better from moment to moment, and not dwell on what has been or what may be." With a little tilt of her head, acknowledging, "Some days I remember that better than others. And you?"

[youwonscience]

She laces her fingers with Herian's, and gives her hand a squeeze. "I'm sorry too, about Saoirse. I didn't get to know her well, but she seemed pretty great." People come and go from the Inquisition all the time -- some purposely, some less so. It doesn't get easier.

"I'm... OK, mostly. It's nice, having my sisters here, but strange. And I don't know how much I should tell them about..." She gestures vaguely with her free hand. "We don't know for sure how Rifters work, but if some of the most common guesses are right... part of us never left. Which means this part of us probably never goes back? And I'm coping with that, but Sarah's got a kid, you know?" It's quiet, but honest. Making herself be, as much as she's not entirely comfortable.

[dashing]

It's hard to know how to respond. She cannot truly grasp what it is to be ripped so completely from what she knows. Even with being taken to the Circle, the knowledge of those had been with her all her life, and the world still went on as normal beyond the walls, even if her own life was transformed. To be taken completely from your world?

Herian's free hand gently traces Cosima's knuckles, her wrist. "I wish I had an answer for you." What to say, or do. "Perhaps when... so much is uncertain, and we do not know beyond doubt what is, the kinder thing is... not to stoke that anxiety and loss."

It's an unsatisfactory offering, and her smile is apologetic. "Tell your sisters what you feel comfortable sharing. If it does not feel right in the moment, trust yourself, and the instinct."

[youwonscience]

She smiles back, nuding Herian's shoulder fondly. "Whatever I do is right, so don't worry about it?" fondly teasing. "Thanks, though. I'm trying to figure it out as I go along. I don't want to panic them with guessing, but I don't want them to feel lied too either."

Softer, "Someone asked me, recently, if I wanted to go home. I don't even know if that's possible, but god, I hadn't thought about it like that in so long. You know? This is my home now, and I try not to worry to much about the parts of the situation I can't control. And I know you've got to think about it sometimes, but I hope not like... too much?"

It's a little clumsy, but well-meant.

[dashing]

Herian makes a quiet sound, like she's trying to come up with a response that isn't quite so Cosima-biased, and like that effort is kind of a struggle. "I— would not—" she starts, trying to navigate, "I do not think you're incapable of making mistakes, just that— I would feel inclined to trust your instincts on most occasions."

Nailed it.

But that second point, that makes her exhale softly, gaze drifting to the setting sun. The sky is turning to dusty purples and pinks, now, as the sun sinks lower.

"I worry," Herian admits, clenching her jaw as she pauses to collect her words again, like the motion could clear away some of the anxiety in it all. "The longer you are here, the more I hope that it means you won't ever go home. And I know that is selfish, and that it is no guarantee. I'm not sure that if you did disappear, I would not— would not tear apart the rifts trying to find a way to follow you." She lightly runs her fingers along Cosima's jaw, and leans in to kiss her cheek, voice still soft. "But I want to make sure that each moment we have together, I am entirely present, and entirely yours. Not worrying about what may be."

[youwonscience]

Once they're sitting, she leans her head against Herian's shoulder. She doesn't point out that it seems increasingly likely that she'd be back in her world, the more they learn; more likely in the Fade, or nowhere at all, but it's not helpful to say.

"I think that's good. I mean, I worry too. But actually... it's weird. I might end up having longer here, than I did at home. Spirit healing can treat my illness, but we don't have it where I'm from. I was working on a treatment, but there was no guarantee I was going to find one. So I guess... I try to do that too. Be presented here, now, and not try to worry too much about things I can't do anything about."

She turns her head and kisses Herian's neck. "I wouldn't want to leave you, either."

[dashing]

As Cosima leans against her, Herian wraps her arm around her, thumb gently rubbing the crest of Cosima's shoulder. The more she thinks about how Cosima's illness might not be cured or managed at home, how much she relies on magic, the more she is thankful for the gifted magical healers they have amongst the Inquisition ranks. Magic healing was not, generally speaking, readily available, and it makes a quiet anxiety twist in her gut that she tries to press back.

A flicker of a smile, though, at the kiss. "It would be a sorry day if you were waiting for an opportunity to escape my clutches," she replies, faintly dramatised.

She pauses for a second, before going on. "When I think of being in the Circle, and I remember that what we have would be forbidden, and that if the Circles still stood, we may never have met..." Herian sighs, and shakes her head. "I have so resolutely called myself a Loyalist for so long, but I wonder if I am lying to myself on that count."

It seems silly, though, and she clears her throat, and tilts her head to kiss Cosima's temple. "I love you." Quiet, a reminder, even if it's unnecessary.

[youwonscience]

"I love you too," she says, leaning into Herian's embrace. "And I don't know. I mean... I think anyone who didn't live in a Circle has less of a right to an opinion about it, in some ways, but I do sometimes wonder if they took a real thing, that you actually need to be careful about, and used it to justify a system that was more about making sure people don't have to actually deal with mages in their everyday lives than about keeping people safe."

Maybe not! But Cosima's seen enough to wonder. And it's not as if she has no context for systems of segregating one group from another.

"There's all kinds of reasons we might not have ever met. But I think that's part of what's beautiful about the universe, you know? It's this improbable mixture of order and chance. And here we are."

[dashing]

Herian kisses Cosima's temple as she listens, and makes a quiet sound of agreement. Or, if not entire agreement, consideration.

"I know not. I... think there was good in it, at some stage." Maybe she needs to think that, and that much Herian can acknowledge, even to herself. "I know that... an abomination, should that be what becomes of a mage, can destroy towns entire, and that the fear of that can lead to the persecution of mages, and a spiral of— of fear and desperation on both sides. The more and more I think on it though, I cannot but wonder if... with so many choices taken from mages as an inherent aspect of the Circles, if that potential for despair and desperation could make resisting the offers of a demon all the more difficult, and makes us all the more alien and alarming to the outside world. If there could be Circles but where... where there is freedom to be a person and not have that be all you know, then surely that would be the safer thing for all people."

She chews on her lip, worry etching itself into her expression despite herself. Herian shakes her head a little, and smiles apologetically. This is perhaps not an uplifting topic for date night. "And here we are."

[youwonscience]

"I think it can be both things, you know? I mean, the middle of a war isn't a great time for making that kind of observation, usually, but it can be addressing a real problem and also not doing it well. I think, for instance, if you let people learn at the circles but like... go home to their loved ones on holidays. Check in regularly but otherwise have real lives. There might be a lot less of that fear you're talking about. On both sides. It's like the Inquisition sending the Rifters to Kirkwall. No one was going to be less scared of us if we all stayed hidden away in Skyhold, right?"

She touches her thumb to the corner of Herian's mouth, fond. "It's complicated. Everyone who's not trying to spew propaganda knows that."

[dashing]

In a whimsical burst, Herian tilts her head, so she can lightly catch Cosima's thumb with her teeth - a teasing smile, shortlived, followed by a slightly apologetic smile. A kiss, then, to the pad of Cosima's thumb, and she allows her eyes to close for a moment and list into the contact.

"You're right." Cosima is probably always rights — Herian, unbiased expert, 9:44.

With a soft sigh, she continues. "It's almost as though increasing our understanding of one another might heighten our sense of commonality and community. And yet... animosity remains even in the face of a common adversary. It is no longer mages versus the many, but all theoretically against Corypheus, and we are still a threat." Another moment, and she adds, "I'm sorry. This is not... the uplifting conversation I'd hoped to conjure for a date."

[youwonscience]

Cosima laughs. "I guess I haven't been helping there. What would you rather talk about? I'm game for pretty much whatever, it's just, you know. Corypheus is kind of hard not to think about a lot of the time." Under the circumstances.