Fade Rift Mods (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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faderift2015-12-30 06:14 pm
faderifting) wrote in faderift2015-12-30 06:14 pm
Entry tags:
- ! open,
- { adelaide leblanc },
- { alayre sauveterre },
- { anders },
- { araceli bonaventura },
- { benevenuta thevenet },
- { bruce banner },
- { christine delacroix },
- { cullen rutherford },
- { dorian pavus },
- { ellana ashara },
- { fenris },
- { garris vakrie },
- { gavin ashara },
- { james norrington },
- { jamie mccrimmon },
- { kallian endris },
- { kas },
- { katniss everdeen },
- { korrin ataash },
- { leonard church },
- { maria hill },
- { martel },
- { maxwell trevean },
- { mia rutherford },
- { morrigan },
- { nerva lecuyer },
- { rachette dakal },
- { sabine },
- { salvatore },
- { samouel gareth },
- { samwise gamgee },
- { siuona dahlasanor },
- { taashath },
- { twisted fate },
- { zevran arainai }
OPEN: this will be a better year
WHO: Everyone
WHAT: First Day
WHEN: Wintermarch 1 (forward-dated)
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: Scouts from both the Western Approach and Emprise du Lion are welcome (but not required) to have returned to Skyhold in time for this event.
WHAT: First Day
WHEN: Wintermarch 1 (forward-dated)
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: Scouts from both the Western Approach and Emprise du Lion are welcome (but not required) to have returned to Skyhold in time for this event.
There have been better First Day feasts, and less crowded ones, and cheerier ones. It isn't a good year for many to look back on, and this one isn't starting any better. Reports from both Eastern and Western Orlais are grim. Many in the Inquisition can't afford to take more than a few hours away from their work, if that.
But for those who can, the ambassador does her best. At lunchtime some tables, hot food, and finery are reserved for visiting nobility and wealthy pilgrims--cause for grumbling in some quarters, perhaps, but they're the people filling the Inquisition's coffers, and allowances must be made--but there's plenty of stew, bread, and ale for everyone, even with the soldiers and refugees who stay outside the fortress invited inside for the holiday. The recently repaired garden and its carefully tended plants aren't off limits, but anyone noisy and holding a drink will be stopped at the door; the battlements, with their potential for deadly falls, are blocked by Inquisition guards. But the courtyards brim with people, most of them happy despite the possibility that the world might end before another First Day arrives.
If the courtyards are too full of tipsy visitors for comfort, there's also the valley beyond the fortress, expansive, barren, and covered in snow. By the river the soldiers help the refugees make a bonfire larger than would ever be allowed inside Skyhold's walls, and some lend their shields to use as sleds down the embankments. A group of scouts start the most intense game of hide and seek Thedas has ever seen, with snowballs to the face for whoever is found first. In the camp, a refugee girl with her hand wrapped in a green scarf chases other children around the tents, shouting raaar, I'm from the rifts!
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"James?" This is perhaps the first time Alayre ever called him by his given name. He has a penchant for referring to everyone by their family names out of habit. Alayre's manner of speech is often quite proper and eloquent. It takes much for him to adopt a more colloquial manner is speech with others.
"Gazing upon where land and sky meet, brother?"
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He pauses, before his lips twitch up, "I suppose so. I have never really had a chance to look at Skyhold before. Even in the dim light, it is impressive. I cannot think of a keep so finely built."
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"My sincerest apologies but wasn't an invitation given?" Alayre questions once he reaches James. "Tis unlike a man to scorn celebration when peace offers it, unless lost in deep thoughts. Hence my reason for showing great concern. I cannot fathom what could possibly plague you." Alayre falls silent once his gaze returns to that of the Hold. An awestruck sigh leaves him.
"Tarasyl'an Te'las..." He all but whispers in his decent attempt to say the fortress's true name. "'The place where the sky is kept', a fitting name for such a domain once crafted by elven hands. Skyhold truly lives up to its grand name, does it not?" He turns his gaze back to James.
"A fitting backdrop as we attempt to stay the apocalypse."
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He flushed, before he put his attention back on the keep itself, his own gaze awed, "It truly does. I have to say, Alayre, I am happy this place still stands. That we humans didnn't sully it to total destruction."
His mouth curved up, "And yes, a very fitting stand off."
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"I doubt many of us know much of what to do during such celebrations. After all, look at 'what' and 'who' we are." Templars don't normally get the luxury to enjoy themselves like this. In all truth, most of them are very anti-social due to their upbringing. Most Templars were raised in the Chantry since childhood. Alayre and a few others like him, were literally abandoned since birth and left at the Chantry, so almost none of them are quite social.
"That sense of awe in your tone tells me you see hope with the Inquisition." Alayre suddenly says as he takes the time to study his comrade's gaze. "Even your eyes give you away, James. Skyhold stands for something to you."
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He nodded his head, his mouth twisting into a grim smile, "Soldiers. Prison wardens. Murderers and torturers ... " He sighed softly, as he looked back up to Skyhold. "Or just a different kind of prisoner. I have not yet decided. I just know - now - that as the mages are changing, we should too."
One corner of his mouth lifted, as he continued to gaze upwards, "Is it wrong, to hold onto a little idealism? I am not sure what it is, but ... if this place can stand, so can we. We can all be rebuilt here.."
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"Of course we can rebuild." Alayre states with something akin to hope laced within every word. "And rebuild we shall." As James just said, the Mages are changing. They're no longer their prisoners but rather equals, and they will no longer stand for the brutalities of yesteryear. This why it's important for the Order to change for the better. Alayre been preaching this truth for awhile now but now he can finally practice what he preach within the Inquisition.
"While our efforts may not prove fruitful yet, I have no doubt that soon we will see improvement within us all as we embark upon repairing the Order's tarnished name." Alayre says as he glances up towards the sky now.
"There's nothing wrong with a bit of idealism. I honestly believe every man is a tad idealistic at times."
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"I was starting to wonder if everything I believed, everything I was ... was just a lie we had all been telling ourselves." He whispered, looking up still, "But then we came to this place -- and it is impossible to despair here. If every man has a little idealism, then this place must have it soaked into the stones itself."
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"You, much like many others, came here with only the clothes upon your back and the remnants of hopeful men who dared to follow your lead. Without knowing the outcome of your journey or whether you were walking straight into the maws of death; you sought us out and found a kindred spirit within the Hold itself." He's smiling now as he chronicles James adventure thus far.
"You've done much to reach the summit of this mountain peak, brother--and I believe you will find yourself at peace with your decision to fight for Thedas rather than destroy it."
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"Did you feel the same way, when you came here? As if you had started to hear the Chant of Light again? A lightening of the mind, and the soul?" He asked quietly. "I do not mean to be intrusive but -- so much of this can be put to miracle, to divine intervention. I only wish to know if I was the only one who felt it."
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"Upon the very hour of my arrival, I felt a great burden lifted from my shoulders as if the Maker himself chosen to carry them. Of course when I professed such a thought, my companion, a fellow Knight-Commander -- I was met with ridicule." He of course speaks of Knight-Commander Stannis Baratheon, the one who took his leave of the Inquisition shortly after their arrival.
"Faithless after the disappearance of his daughter and witnessing the brutality of our brothers; I found myself constantly trying to prove to him that the Inquisition was worth fighting for. We both came here upon a hope and a dream to rebuild the Order under a new leadership without the despots who ruled it." Alayre pauses for a moment as he remembers the time he spent with the broody Baratheon. Despite it all, he misses that man.
"T'was because of our like-minded goal that we marched to Skyhold but when we arrived; we were met with great scorn. The struggles we faced here were too great and for a moment I questioned if my faith in the Maker was misplaced. That is...until heard it." He looks over at James somewhat worriedly now.
"The Will of the Maker in form of something...not akin to sound but something like strange sense of belonging. It's too complex to explain but for the first time in my life, I actually felt as if I belonged somewhere."
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He ... did not feel so silent here.
"Yes ... yes that is it precisely. As if I had been hearing a call, from a long way off, before I came here." He put one hand to his chest, his green eyes solemn, "And when we rode through those gates, even knowing what we would face? Knowing that I would bear the weight of all the sins of our fellow brothers and sisters? That I was meant to be here. That ... here, would be the place where I would find my faith restored, re-newed, even."
He looks up, at Skyhold, then back at Alayre, "And that feeling has been justified."
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"What you found in Skyhold is what I hope others shall find for themselves. That feeling of belonging to a greater purpose beyond themselves." They're in need of a few good men in the Inquisition. That much is apparent judging that the future will hold many battles for them to face.
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He looked around, "We traveled thousands of miles to get here. I have a feeling, though. that this is just the start of our journey. The future is unclear -- but I know the Maker is with us. I know Andraste is with us."
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"Revenge does nothing to ease the pain of loss." He murmurs. "Though, I trust you already know this considering your willingness to seek out a new purpose." In a show of general friendliness, Alayre gently pats James' shoulder in a reassuring manner.
"Let us not question what the future holds for us. Take solace in knowing we're in the right."
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He looked back at Alayre, his mouth twisting again, "First though - the Inquisition. Here, doing the right thing, at the right time."
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"I presume that 'right thing' would be saving them realm first and rebuilding Thedas second."
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He is still not sure he will not give into rage then. But that is in the future and now?
"You would be correct. Thedas first, and always. We save, we rebuild, and always, we protect."
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