( OPEN ) | your faith was strong but you needed proof

[dirth]

WHO: Solas & you!
WHAT: Catching all the things
WHEN: This month
WHERE: Various (library, Kirkwall, offices, etc)
NOTES: N/A currently

THE LIBRARY.

Solas spends much of his time in the library - as he always does. With the recent promotion he has begun to gather a series of books on the Rifts and the Veil properly, the kind that he might be able to use as a list of recommended reading for anyone who might wish to join the project - not a demand, of course, but a suggestion, something that might help them with their questions and curiosities as time goes on. He will become busier, he imagines, and the amount of questions he was able to answer might suffer for it.

As usual, time passes and it seems as though Solas continues to use a great deal of his time collecting and reading books. He does not spend as much time sitting in 'his spot' as he used to before, but he does hover sometimes, flicking through his own notes as he considers what he might need to see taken to his rooms and what might be able to be left here. He will take some out, he must, but otherwise many of them can stay here for the rest of the public to use.

Sometimes, he sits in a corner keeping to himself, waiting, frowning, reading and reading. He makes himself comfortable eventually, pouring himself a cup of something to drink - deliberately not tea - before he gives himself a moment to shut his eyes and relax.

KIRKWALL

When not in the library, Solas can be found wandering Kirkwall, investigating things he might have otherwise missed. He doesn't linger much in taverns or bars - they're hardly the kind of place he'd waste his time, even if it means he might be able to discover more of what the 'common' people might be interested in - but he does travel to Darktown at times, does look into the depths of what it is like for the elves here, offering what he can to aid them as little as it might be. He is a familiar face to some of them: they are absent from the Dalish and so the two of them get along far better than he might with anyone of the clans.

Eventually, he makes his way back to the Inquisition proper and spends a little time wandering around the gardens, arms crossed behind his back and his attention focussed on the herbs, on the plants, on the things that interest him. He does not seem to mind being interrupted, if anyone has the desire, and he seems in a pleasant enough mood before he makes himself comfortable on a bench, drawing a book from somewhere and beginning to read, flicking the pages absently.

OFFICES

Thanks to his position as a project leader he has not been forced to spend more time in the officers, doing the work that must be done. He has books out over the desk, notes here and there, and the walls have already begun to have a few strokes of paint over them, some charcoal left here and there as an outline. Solas is making himself at home as best he can - it is no Skyhold, but he will make do.

The door is usually left open for anyone to come in and speak with him. When not, he expects a knock before he allows anyone to enter. Just in case.

WILDCARD

( Find him in the Gallows, near his room, hanging near Galadriel and anywhere else your heart desires! )

Comments

OFFICES.

[the_cleric]

"Ay oh ay, boss!"

Jester knocks in a way that is not a knock. The door might be open, but she has manners, you know? So she knocks on the doorframe as she passes it, swanning into the office in all her seven-foot-tall glory.

The pocket of her pinafore has a curious lump in it, one that squirms, nervously, as she swings around the pink bag she was carrying over her back. But she has to do that, so that she can loosen its drawstrings and get out a pastry wrapped in a blue-and-white checked cloth.

"This is for you!" she announces, proudly, and puts the pastry down on the desk. Half of it is missing. Not in a way like someone bit off half of it, but definitely in a way like someone broke it in half, perhaps in very uneven halves, ate the bigger half, and carefully wrapped the smaller half in cloth and brought it to their boss. "Because you look hungry. I am Jester, and I am a tiefling who looks like a qunari, but only because I am a Rifter, and I work on your project! But there hasn't been much to do, you know."

solas: what the fuc -

[dirth]

Solas looks up immediately at the sound of the voice, and if his eye twitches he's sure it's almost impossible to notice.

This is not what he had expected, certainly. He's still adjusting to the novelty of being in charge of people, and looking at the people on the lists is taking a little longer than he had anticpated, mostly because he does not know most of them. At least this one has had the forethought to come and find him... Even if she seems like quite a novelty in herself. The only thing that stops her earning his ire entirely (being Qunari as she is) is the obviousness of her nature as a Rifter.

"... Thank you." He takes the pastry - has she been speaking to Thranduil? - and places it to one side before he motions for her to sit down properly, ignoring the glaring pink of her bag. She's certainly the most unique Rifter he's met thus far, which is something she should definitely hold as some kind of boast.

"I am Solas, as I am sure you know. What is a tiefling?"

🌞🌞🌞

[the_cleric]

Jester flops with cheerful familiarity into the offered chair and beams across the desk at her project leader. He looks very small, probably maybe mostly because she is very tall. He is probably not that small, really. Maybe as tall as Caleb. But then again, it is hard to tell, because he is sitting down.

"Oh, yes," she says, happily. "I know. I read your name. A tiefling is not anything in Thedas, I guess, but in Nicodranus? And in Exandria? It is a people. I guess maybe we were Infernal, or something, technically, but that was a very very long time ago, you know? I am too sweet to me Infernal. And my mom is the same as me. But, anyways, we are usually red, or purple, or blue--that one is me!--and we have horns, and they are a little bit cuter than my qunari horns--and we have tails, which I really really miss--and we are just the best, man, the total best. Being a qunari is not so bad. Oh, I guess I am not usually this tall, when I am a tiefling."

Her pinafore pocket squirms again, and Jester reaches down somewhat absently to put her hand into its depths, to quell whatever discontented beast is lurking within. She leans forward, her attention on Solas, and gives him a big smile.

"So, tell me about you. What is your favorite food, what is your favorite hobby, do you have a crush on anyone, what is your favorite color, have you even broken any bones..."

Totally basic getting-to-know-you stuff.

GOD

[dirth]

It's impossible to take his eyes away from her, that is more than obvious. They flick up for a moment, taking her in from head to toe, before relaxing as he makes himself comfortable in his chair again. Clearly he is not intimidated, despite her height and the intensity of her - it would take far more than that.

"A demon that is not a demon, perhaps?" She certainly does not seem demonic, at least not by modern Thedosian standards of being a demon. All of these places are things that he cannot begin to recognise, of course, but he makes note of them all the same, considering the different colours and people that might come through the Rift to join them. One tiefling could be the gateway to more and more, after all.

He's distracted by his thoughts, absent for a moment, not too concerned with whatever she might be doing to fumble and touch at her dress. Her questions bring Solas back, though, and he breathes out for a moment. He's never had someone quiz him with such eagerness before - not even Thranduil.

"Are they necessary questions to ask? I am the project leader, not your new friend." But there's something of a smile on his face all the same; he does enjoy questions being asked of it, even if he is more accustomed to them being of the Fade. "Cakes. Reading. Perhaps. Green. Yes."

Will that do, he wonders.

[the_cleric]

"Well, I would not even say demon, you know? Because I am a tiefling. Technically, I already am a thing. But you are close, though!"

Close enough that Jester sounds deeply pleased by the guess. When it seems as if she might have to give an argument--of course they are new friends, just because he is a project leader does not mean that they are not new friends--but then he answers, and Jester's grin is wide enough to split her face.

"Cakes! That is a very very good choice. Cakes are like, one of my favorite foods, too. And green is a good color, and I am glad you have a perhaps crush, because everyone should have one. Those are very good answers." In case he was waiting for her opinion. Moving right along, Jester holds up five fingers so she can count down. "My answers are, pastries, drawing, maybe sort of kind of but it's none of your business--" Too giggly to be stern, that-- "Pink, and no. So now we know each other, a little, and you can answer this question: now that you are the leader of this project, what do you want to do?"

[dirth]

"Something comparable to this world, at least. I can understand why the Rift might have made you a Qunari."

Large and strong with horns? If these tieflings were real and Jester was to be believed then it seems a Qunari would be an appropriate fit. It makes him think of what others might come through the Rifts, what other things there were in other worlds. It's a curiosity that he cannot deny, even as his thoughts are sharply tugged back to the moment at hand by Jester speaking again, accented and giggly. It was enough to make his eyebrow twitch, just a little.

"You should visit Orlais, then. They have some rather marvellous cakes you would certainly enjoy." But he listens and watches, his smile settling in place. It's rare for anyone to be like this with him - calm and casual and open, even teasing. He has something of a reputation. "I don't think it's fair for you to ask if I have feelings for someone and deny to answer the same question?"

Perhaps he is teasing her now. But, ah, back to business.

"I would like to find a means to understand the Veil and strengthen it here in Kirkwall, to protect the inhabitants."

[the_cleric]

Orlais. Jester mouths the name after her boss says it.

"Yeah, I have heard of that place before, but I never wanted to visit until now. If they really do have such good cakes and pastries and stuff, and no one has told me until today? I am going to be really mad, man. Well, not really mad," she clarifies, nearly in the same breath, "and I won't be mad at you. So maybe we really will become such good friends that we will tell each other all about our crushes and stuff! Relationship goals."

Which is a phrase that Jester knows to parrot, even if she's not entirely sure of what is meant by that. She swings her bag around again so that she can get out her sketchbook, and flip to a blank page.

"Why are you the project leader, if you don't understand the Veil? Like, technically, I do not understand it. But technically I don't need to. Because I'm not leading anything."

[dirth]

"I am sure there would be many people who would be more than happy to accompany you. There are a handful or so of Orlesians here that would welcome a chance to visit Val Royeux, should you ask. It's hardly too horrid a threat - and the chefs here have begun to make some kind of replicas."

Thranduil might have somewhat of a monopoly on that, though. One of the things Solas misses about their weekly visits is the sharing of the little cakes, his sweet tooth gone unsatisfied for quite some time. Something to think about for the future, he supposes.

The rest, though, makes his eyes narrow, just a little.

"I understand the Veil better than anyone else in the Inquisition, I'm sure," he made it, "but that does not mean there is not more study to be done, or a necessity to share that understanding. I did not mean that I needed to learn more, necessarily."

[the_cleric]

"Oh, sure. Replicas are fine. But you know what is the best? The real deal, man. I had a pastry once, and it was close to being like a pastry that I would get at home, in Nicodranas. But the cinnamon was not right. So then I was like," and she clicks her tongue, disappointed all over again, "aww man! This isn't right! I mean, I still ate it. But it wasn't the same. I guess if I have to travel all over this country to find the best pastry, I will have to do it."

A tough job. Thankfully, Jester is here. She has leaned forward in her chair by now, and put one of her elbows on Solas' desk. As she talks, and as he talks, she puts her chin into her hand. Cute, but thoughtful.

"Ohhh," she says, knowingly, "I get it. You mean that I need to learn more. Okay, I am cool with that! You know a lot, and you are going to teach me. So-o, what is the first thing that I will be learning, if there isn't a first thing to do."

[dirth]

"I'm sure I can empathise with the feeling," Solas says, voice low, a touch wry. Yes, he understands how it feels to see a replica of things - the world itself is a faux replica of what it had once been, with the Veil lifted and strong as it is, now. It's not quite the same as the longing for some kind of pastry or cake, but at least it's an echo of it; he has some kind of empathy, some kind of knowledge, some understanding.

He watches her instead, letting her have free reign of things. It's not as if he's bothered entirely; she has done nothing to really irritate him, not just yet.

"Exactly. Many Rifters are unfamiliar with the nature of the world in Thedas, even with some kind of basic education." He smiles, thin but soft. "What do you know of the Veil already?"

[the_cleric]

"We-ell, okay, so--like, I know that it is a thing, like a barrier, kind of sort of... a magic one... and that it separates us from ghosts and stuff... and there's the Fade, which is also something magic, kind of sort of... and mages can go there, which is pretty cool, and I wish I could do it... and it's always been here, forever... So, I know all of that. But, technically?"

Jester sits back a little and turns her sketchbook around so that he can see. There it is: the blank page. She smiles. Still very cute.

"Technically, I guess I know... nothing. Technically."

[dirth]

"You're not entirely on the wrong path." Solas can admit that, at least. For a Rifter she has somewhat of a firm knowledge of what the Fade is, and Solas can respect that. At least she has something for a foundation of an education, which he can provide a little of. Something, if nothing else, especially if she is to work in his project.

The blank page is very cute. His lip twitches.

"Where would you like to start?"