OPEN | so much to learn, so little time

[malavhenan]

WHO: Finel and YOU
WHAT: February catch-all
WHEN: Beginning a few days after Kirkwail
WHERE: Various
NOTES: Finel has lots of people still to meet - starters available on request or hit me with anything and I'll roll with it

I. The Library

The library has quickly become his favorite place in the Gallows, and as such he finds a reason to be there nearly every day for several hours. Some times, he's bent over a large volume at a table, a small leather bound notebook open to the side with pen and ink as he takes notes on different magical techniques - mostly healing magics, but also digging into the histories of Thedas, and on occasion some more esoteric volumes on the Fade.

Other times he just wanders through the rows, marveling at titles and enjoying the relative quiet. Even though the room is densely filled and surrounded by stone, he feels settled and safe, here.

On one occasion, he happens to have overstayed himself. Head pillowed on one arm, arm resting against the open book, Finel appears fast asleep at the table.



II. The Wounded Coast

The stone of the Gallows and the bustle of Kirkwall at times feel like all too much. Unused to the constant closeness of a city, he seeks a more open place when he feels overwhelmed and has the time to get away. He's only been on a ship a handful of times, but there's something about the rhythm of the waves, the endless expanse of the horizon that can erase his thoughts and worries, if only briefly.

He's settled on a piece of driftwood washed up on the beach, staff leaning by his side as he takes up a smaller branch, drawing idle words and shapes in the sand. Before long he sets that aside too, and begins practicing some small spells, pulling and shaping the Fade with his hands, forming ice and fire, calling a stone on the ground towards his hand and dropping it again. The anchor shard is dull and numb just below his thumb on his left hand, and he frowns a little as he looks at it.



III. Wildcard!

Request a starter or start your own - feel free to go with any other time you might have run into him in the Library.

Comments

[dirth]

"A spirit of Wisdom."

It's still something that pains him a little, to think of what happened to it. His friends had tried, with a great deal of their strength, but it had not been enough. They had not been able to save it and it pained him, just a little, to think about what had been taken from them both.

"It was transformed."

[malavhenan]

Finel leans his chin onto the curl of one hand, already enraptured.

"How so? What sort of things could you learn from the spirit."

[dirth]

"Mages summoned it and forced it to act against its will. That killed it."

It's said with an extreme kind of bitterness, the one that comes from not quite being able to have his vengeance - he was stopped. Idle fingers touch the bone necklace around his neck, the golden hair twined around it.

"Spirits are content to share all the knowledge they have gained with anyone who is willing to ask."

[malavhenan]

His expression falls, a small ache in his chest rising in sorrow and sympathy. Finel notices the touch, and it's hard not to lift his own hand to the pendant hung from his own neck in a similar fashion.

"I'm so sorry..." he offers softly, knowing that it's nearly meaningless. But even so, it deserves acknowledgment, at least. But still, he knits his brows together curiously.

"Are all spirits like that?"