( closed ) embrace like an avalanche

[villieldr]

WHO: Lakshmi & Magni
WHAT: working with an ex with awkward, sometimes
WHEN: mumbles vaguely
WHERE: smithy
NOTES:

( The hours in the smithy are long, working iron into steel and steel to blades. She is hammering at something when the door opens, presently alone in her work, beating hammer to metal with a steady rhythm. Her skin seems almost to glow in the light from the forge, and her skin runs with sweat from the heat of it. Such a heat might be oppressive to a good many, and that she could hardly fault them for.

The door opening hardly means inherently that someone needs her attention, and so she pays it little mind, stepping to the bellows to make the fire burn more fiercely, so that the blade she is presently working on can be re-heated once more, as she continues to progress with it. It was not that she lacked for work generally speaking, but with a battle lurching closer, many more blades and weapons needed making.

It's when she is collecting up the blade that she looks towards the door, and stops.

Ah. )

Comments

[villieldr]

( She can't help it - she laughs. Lecherous bootlicking and religious fanatics are the best and most accurate things she's heard applied to the lowlands in a long time. It starts as a near silent thing that her shoulders, and then she has to look away because she's grinning and the laughter starts to become an audible thing. Husky, rough, much like the rest of her.

This is a poor reaction, probably, but she doesn't know what else to do. A glance back to Lakshmi, to her Rani, and the laughter is renewed. A bright spark.

It is so absurd, so ridiculous, and in the midst of such abject misery - her own of these past weeks, Rani's hurts, her despair and her desperation, and then she said that. )

[shri]

[ I have never seen her laugh so much, she realises faintly. Fighting her own smile as she realises Magni is truly laughing. Pressing her lips together in such a decided way it was only kept from spreading by a execution of sheer will. ]

I am glad it amuses you, it certainly did not amuse them.

pours one out for all my broken icons

[villieldr]

( Sorry, sorry. That just makes her laugh harder. She's literally taking a seat on the ground, one hand on her abdomen as she tries to rein in the laughter. )

How are you a diplomat?

[shri]

[ She pushes at her shoulder as she falls - go on then, fall over, laughing at her. A little easiness as her shoulders fall back, her ankles crossing underneath the bed, and her hands rest either side of her.

For a moment, it isn't like everything else has happened. ]

Because I managed not to say it to anyone else's face for months, that's how.

[villieldr]

Maybe I should be a diplomat.

( If those are the requirements. She's even better at keeping her mouth shut.

She has to prop herself up on one elbow, slouched on the floor as she looks up at Lakshmi. )

Congratulations on making it months before you called the Chantry self-righteous heretics.

( what an achievement, wow )

[shri]

It was a struggle, almost daily.

[ It's hard, not to just sink down on top of her. Crawl to settle over her hips, straddle her firmly. So she can push her back and kiss her firmly for taking such enjoyment her present situation.

But her hands stay put, and her cants to one side. ]

I do believe in my work, as they have given it to me. It... affords an opportunity to help others in more ways than just beating my head against a wall. But I... lost my temper at Commander Coupe.

[villieldr]

Try worshipping the gods that their Blessed Andraste cast aside for the "Maker."

( She doesn't make airquotes, no, but they're there. Audible airquotes. A quiet huff of disgust and amusement mixed together. Blessed Andraste.

Her eyebrows raise a little. The expression says, you? lose your temper? say it isn't so. )

[shri]

[ And her expression back is I have no idea what you are talking about? I am a picture of temperance. ]

Ah, is that what the difference is? There was a man that... he spoke to me of the Avvar, I thought to ask you about it earlier.

[ But then you wrecked her so bad she couldn't speak r i p. ] Namely that ... I, like the Avvar, worship many Gods, of nature and of men.

[villieldr]

She was not Avvar but... of one of the tribes that came before us.

( A loose shrug. She doesn't much care for the Chantry, and it's something she's made a point of not speaking about beyond the walls of the Hold. Not, mind you, that her not speaking about something was necessarily the point of struggle.

Mulling over Lakshmi's words, she nods a little, pensive. Doesn't reply immediately - which man and when was earlier and what exactly do you mean? because people can say all manner of things. Instead she watches, waiting for Lakshmi to go on. )

[shri]

We were talking... of how there are varied faiths in my homeland. I ruled over many different groups. But I found it is to reconcile our differences because in my own teachings, we believe that all Gods are an expression of divinity to each individual group and as valid as each other. He mentioned the Avvar as one of the variances here, in these lands.

[ There is a pull. Expressing that opinion had not gone over well, not remotely well. ]

And to another, I said... that as long as there was a want to act in compassion, with love and concern to want to help others - what did the differences matter? He did not enjoy such words even mildly.

[villieldr]

( Long moments of watching her Rani. As long as there was a want to act in compassion, with love. Was that what was at the core of her, under the sharpness and biting? What spurred her on when she hurt so desperately that she clung, and when she bared her claws? A queen who wished to act in harmony and unite her people, who saw those same people she adored be torn apart by monsters?

Is that who Lakshmi is? Is love what had turned her to lies and viciousness?

Magni realises she should reply. )

Because their Maker has abandoned them until they make everyone worship him.

( She shakes her head. )

The Maker sounds— ( A quiet sound of disgust. She can't quite settle on the word she wants. ) I feel Korth with me every day. I see the Sky Lady in the breeze and soaring birds. They don't demand I turn others to them.

[shri]

[ Used to Magni's silences, well enough, that she does nothing but wait patiently.

And - for once, there is something she can latch onto, understand. A brightness to it as she looks up to Magni with... it wasn't that she expected Magni to be sharp, or cruel, or turn her away.

But to hear it repeated? Her gaze softens, warms. ] Yes, when I go into battle I know Goddess Kali guides my way forward, when I bath in rivers I feel the chant of my homeland, and I feel washed a knew, and they ask only that I pursue truth. [ And without looking away - the one thing is apparent.

She has been here but a few months, and yes, she knew the disrespect the half-breed's had for anything that was sacred when they were hungry. But - ] It... must be difficult, to be here, in the Inquisition, in a thing founded to serve this... Chantries cause.

[villieldr]

( Her smile warms with that. To know the guidance of Kali and the closeness Lakshmi feels to the land, to grasp onto this precious glimpse of who she was, what stars she guides herself by.

And then that question comes, and her gaze drops, shuttered. For a brief moment, something fragile lingers in the line of her mouth.

I serve the fight against Corypheus, she should say. Instead she shrugs, a bit uselessly. )

[shri]

I know they won't - so thank you, for being better than their pettiness.

[ She means it - more than just to pat her on the hand. How much people could take for granted that they were right and they deserved, and never bothered to look at how they got there. At the people that must work beside them in tandem. ]

To lend your skills to their smithies and your strength to their fight. That is a mighty thing, even if they would only gloat over it.

[villieldr]

( Her expression twists a little, with that, looking up but not quite looking at Lakshmi. )

Don't.

( She shakes her head. Don't, don't praise her. )

I was ordered to them by the Thane of Talonhold. To serve the Inquisition is to serve my Hold. ( Eyes of the Avvar, ears of the Avvar, watching what the heretics do and say. Her voice is rough, rasping. She is not above their pettiness. )

[shri]

[ That was - her eyebrows raise. Hovering.

She is of her people, as you would be of yours. The gold band curves between her fingers where it is still clasped in her palm, where it's flat on the bed. ]

What is a ... Thane? A Lord?

[villieldr]

( A face at "lord," looking up at Lakshmi with very mild reproach. Lord, indeed. )

The leader of our Hold. They understands our oaths and challenges.

( There's like...... so much to explain. She'd prefer to not. Instead she pushes herself up to stand and moves to the foot of the bed, flopping backwards onto it so she's lying behind where Lakshmi is sitting. )

Please don't tell people I was ordered here.

[shri]

[ Oh, no, no that is not sliding. Her eyebrows might just disappear into her hair. ]

.... Magni, are you a princess?

[ She turns to watch Magni intently, follows after her intently to make sure she understands this correctly. The rest, the rest would certainly wait until she understands this particular thing properly. ]

[villieldr]

( exCUSE you )

[villieldr]

The Avvar don't have princesses. Eskil is the Thane, and he is my father. These do not give me— lowlander titles.

[shri]

Is it that titles do not pass hereditarily that keeps such a thing from being true?

[ Her face is very set, very careful, she is doing her best not to laugh. ]

[villieldr]

( her very
dignified
response


is to latch onto Lakshmi for a tickle fight

fucking BRING IT )

[shri]

You are - !

[ Is what that reaction ultimately confirms. But that isn't something she can crow over for much longer. As Magni immediately finds the soft bits she knows are too sensitive for that nonsense.

Squirming fitfully as she yelps, croaks out a bit of laughter as it escapes her before she can stop it. But - refusing to be undone, she squirms back, struggling with her, pushing at her hands. ] All this time, crowing over my titles, your grace.

[ She reaches back, getting her knees under her. Snatching one of her wrists and pushing with it. ] Princess Magni.

[villieldr]

Am not.

( Because she isn't. Because the Avvar don't have princesses, and even if they did, she wouldn't be one just because her father is thane. She'd overrule it.

One of her wrists is pushed back, and she retaliates as Lakshmi gets to her knees by hooking her legs around Lakshmi's waist, making that squirming more difficult so she can hold her in place as she redoubles her tickling tactics. ) Majesty.

[shri]

[ She can't breathe, she's laughing too much. Hadn't had a reason too since she'd well and truly dug herself into a mess. This isn't something she deserves, presently, least of all from Magni. ]

Ah, but to a lowlander, you would be.

[ She drops heavily because pulling back wasn't going to get her far, when Magni locks her in tightly. Catching one hand by Magni's head, even if it means she must let go for her.

Because the thought is sharp: she always is distracted when I bite her throat. Makes her fingers curl up in the blanket, ignoring and failing where they're all bound together.

She had to stick to her word this time and finally retaliates properly, digging her fingers in against her side. Up against her belts where she can get her fingers in properly. ]