мerrιℓℓ (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
chainlightning) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
faderift2015-12-17 02:13 am
chainlightning) wrote in faderift2015-12-17 02:13 am
we're not lost! we're on an adventure!
WHO: Merrill and open
WHAT: Merrill has freshly arrived and is already lost.
WHEN: Mid-Haring
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: c:
WHAT: Merrill has freshly arrived and is already lost.
WHEN: Mid-Haring
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: c:
[ If anyone has made a map of Skyhold, no one's shown Merrill -- of course, she is rather freshly arrived, having come in during the night with a group of alienage elves. Most were from Kirkwall, but a few had joined up as they traveled from other locations, and all are glad to be off the road and out of the snow. She's spent most of her time getting them settled, trying to prove to whoever asks that yes, they do really all want to join and can be useful. She's mentioned Hawke and Varric more than is perhaps strictly necessary. But if it works, if it helps her people (elves, even though they're not Dalish; her new clan, her found clan), then Merrill is willing to do it.
That's why she had gone looking for the library in the first place. She doesn't appear to have found it, though; she may be in the kitchen, the pub, someone's bedroom, an office, yet another airing cupboard... basically anywhere but the library. And she is completely, utterly lost. ]
Oh, I do wish I hadn't lost that ball of twine...
[ Her sincerest apologies if she's interrupting something, really. ]
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[ Unicorns, though -- unicorns. She's only barely heard of them, never seen one, and Merrill lights up. ]
You've seen unicorns?
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[Likely there's got to be one around somewhere, if they're the sort of creatures people like enough to make carvings out of. But he wouldn't even know where to start looking, let alone what to do with one if he found it, so a carved halla sounds like a good compromise to him. In the meantime, he can tell her about the unicorn - which, given the way she's just lit up, he's happy enough to do, and he gives her a quick but enthusiastic nod.]
And aye, I did once. Twice if you count the time I had that dream. They're fearsome beasties, you know.
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[ If possible, she lights up even more just thinking about griffons. Alas, those she's much less likely to ever find. ]
How did you find them?
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Aye. We were in the TAR...er, in our ship, and I'd closed my eyes for just a minute, and there it was, charging straight at me. Horn lowered, ready for the kill-
[And then it occurs to him that is probably nooot the best way to make friends, and he breaks off, looking somewhat sheepish.]
Er, well, then I woke up. Zoe thought it was my imagination until we ran into one for real after our ship broke up, but that's a longer story. Can't say as I've seen any griffons, though. Do they really fight in battles?
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[ Merrill, of course, instead of sounding concerned or frightened, just sounds excited. ]
And I'm okay with longer stories! But yes, they do -- or well, they did. No one's seen a griffon in several ages, as far as I know. [ And there's the excitement gone, Merrill just looking rather sad instead. ] The poor things.
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[Although for a split second there's a tiny part of him that almost wishes he could say yes, just because she seems so keen on the idea.]
Although you could say I'm an adventurer as well, because we do have a ship. And I have fought a few pirates in my day. Not where the unicorn turned up, mind, but I might've if we'd wound up stuck there any longer. That place was one where stories came to life, and there's plenty of pirate stories out there. [Still...she looks so sad when she mentions the griffons not being around. And for some reason, he finds that he can't quite help adding in one other thing.] Griffon stories, too. So maybe I'd have seen one there eventually as well. I'd imagine they'd be very fierce if so.
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[ And she sounds just as excited by the idea, even if, after a moment, she adds- ] What are they?
[ But still -- adventuring, fighting pirates, places where stories come to life! It all sounds so amazing, and Merrill claps her hands together. ]
I have a friend who's a pirate -- Isabela, she's around here somewhere -- but I imagine even she's fought other pirates! But other than the Fade, I can't think of a place where stories might come to life. It must have been exciting!
If you ever go back, you should search for the griffons. Carefully, but then you could say you'd seen one! [ Beat. ] And if you were somehow able to come back here, I'd very much like one named Feathers.
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A Highlander's someone who lives in the Highlands. They're in Scotland, in case you were wondering. Back on my world.
[Which didn't have any pirates named Isabela, unfortunately. He's actually not even sure how many female pirates there are where he comes from. The one that he met had been less a pirate and more someone caught in an unfortunate situation. While he can't say as he'd normally want to run into pirates again, he does have to admit he's a little intrigued by the thought of a lassie as one. But he doesn't pursue the matter at the moment, because there were still the matter of the griffons - and he winds up blinking fairly rapidly at Merrill instead.]
Aye, well, I don't know if we'd be able to get back there again anyway. We weren't supposed to go there in the first place. Why Feathers, though?
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What's it like? Scotland and the Highlands, both?
[ Because, you know, that won't take up quite a lot of time as far as descriptions. The library, it seems, is all but forgotten -- Merrill is much more interested in learning about Jamie and his world. ]
Well, griffons have feathers. Why not?
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[The question comes along with a slightly raised brow, as he knows full well that he could go on for hours about Scotland if given a chance. Merrill wouldn't know that, of course, but if he's going to get started it wouldn't hurt to have an idea if she's got time for a full ramble or not. Even without knowing, though, he does plan on explaining just a little, and he's quick to expand on that question somewhat.]
I can tell you a fair amount about both, you know. But I can't promise I'd be quick about it, and if you've only a little bit I can try not to get into too much detail about the mountains and the lochs and the moors. Or the heather, for that matter. No griffons there, though, I'm afraid- although since you do mention it, Feathers does make sense for one, now that I think about it.
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[ Even if 'later' becomes 'tomorrow'. ]
If you don't mind talking about it, then I certainly don't mind listening, no matter how long it takes! I imagine you have to do a lot of listening about this world, instead of talking about your own.
sorry this is so late. :c
[Her next comment actually gets a chuckle out of him before he reaches up and scratches at his ear a touch sheepishly.]
Ah, there's things about my world that aren't so easy to explain anyway, although you're not wrong. There's a lot to find out about this place, and I don't think I've even gotten half of it. I've heard some of those books in the library might help, but...
[He breaks off, and shrugs lightly.]
Tell you what, though, if you want we could head over there together and I could tell you some of the things that aren't so complicated on the way, since I don't mind talking about it.
psh you're fine
I can answer any questions you might have, too! Or, well, I can try. Maybe not all today, but I'd like learning about your world and I imagine you at least want to not be caught off-guard, hm?
[ In other words- that's a yes. A jumbled, eager to help, eager to learn mess of a yes, but a yes. ]
<3
[Alright, so he gets a bit turned around sometimes. But it should still be easy enough to get them to the library, as far as he's concerned, and that confidence carries both into his tone and his bearing as he heads towards the door.]
Although you're right, I'd not mind not knowing more about this place in general. It's...well, I've gotten the idea it's a fairly big place, but some of it does remind me a bit of what it was like back home, when I was growing up. Small villages near mountains and the like. The Highlands are made up of a lot of those. The view from them's quite nice, if you don't mind a bit of a climb.
cry my turn to apologize
[ She takes him at her word, and if proven wrong later- well, she won't mind. ]
Definitely quite large, yes. There should be maps, somewhere! Though I am glad it's not all too strange, though I suppose that could make what is different feel even more so.
Did the Highlands get this much snow, too?
no worries! it's all good.
[That part of things is normal enough in a lot of places that normally it doesn't even register with him unless it's unusually cold and he has to wear extra layers. Then he complains about it, but he doesn't feel much like complaining right now. Instead, he gives her a smile before crossing over towards a set of stairs that leads up, and to what he thinks is the general direction of the library.]
It's much prettier late in the summer, when the heather is in bloom. If you're up high enough it looks like a carpet of flowers, all pink and purple mixed in with the green.
<3
[ Merrill giggles, but it's all a friendly tease -- after all, it can be easy while inside Skyhold to forget that it's more or less in the middle of nowhere in the Frostbacks. ]
Oh, that does sound lovely. Are there trees as well?
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Aye. There's forests, too, and lochs -- or lakes, if you like -- depending on where you go. I know of one in the middle of one of the forests, called "Loch an Eilein", which doesn't sound quite so interesting in English. Or, er, whatever it is we're speaking here. I'm still not so clear on that part.