[Open] in the merry summer months

[okayimin]

WHO: Sawbones, Jenny Lou, Poesia and YOU
WHAT: a catch all
WHEN: throughout Solace, into whatever the next month is
WHERE: All over
NOTES: light cw for animal dissection for medical purposes in one of Sawbones' prompts, additional nsfw headers in Poesia's threads. gimme that action spam. if u want a closed starter hmu!

Comments

[sulahnan]

Made for?

[bloodandsand]

Killing, of course.

[sulahnan]

Sorry, I should've said: "Made for?"

[ Emphasis, what a concept. ]

Who made you for that?

[bloodandsand]

Ah, I see! Well, let me think...

[ She frowns slightly. ]

Goodness, it is hard to say. I suppose my tutors and the Elders, of course. The older Reavers I learned under. Of course, my Beloved was most instrumental in shaping the direction my making would take. I was hers after all.

[sulahnan]

[ There's that word again. Beloved Stuck in her head periodically like an echo that has to travel a great distance to reach her.

Athessa scoots a little nearer. ]

What happened to her? [ She picked up on the past tense. ] Your beloved?

[bloodandsand]

She was killed.

[ Her gaze goes a little vacant at that. ]

I can hardly say how long ago anymore. A year or two perhaps.

[sulahnan]

Oh. I'm...sorry.

[ Not that she expected any different. ]

Would you rather not talk about her? We can talk about somethin' else or I can just fuck off if you want.

[bloodandsand]

[ She smiles at Athessa, apparently fully returned to herself and waves off her concern. ]

You really are terribly sweet, but you needn't concern yourself so. I carry her with me, after all. And she drives me forward even now.

[ She laughs softly. ] Though I admit, I have grown rather lazy without her. I imagine she would have had me rending down Coryhpeus' doors by now.

[sulahnan]

[ Her own laugh is partly for the idea that Poesia could ever be considered lazy, and partly because she reminds her of Eshal. She also called Athessa "sweet." ]

I bet the keeper of my clan would say the same thing about me. Well...she'd probably have other things to say first, actually.

[bloodandsand]

You are... What is the word... Dalish? I'm afraid I'm not at all familiar with the customs.

[ Her early studies had been primarily about the Elder Ones and the more pressing heresies of the Chantry, after all. ]

[sulahnan]

[ She shouldn't be so pleased to hear Poesia guess Dalish over Alienage when Athessa just said "clan." But she brightens a bit nonetheless. ]

Dalish, yep! Not many people are familiar, as a rule Dalish clans keep to themselves.

[bloodandsand]

[ Poesia nods. ]

That makes sense, I think. My Elders were very similar. Rightly so, I imagine. Is your clan still alive?

[ She does not ask that with the same care Athessa used earlier. Indeed, it didn't even occur to her to try. ]

[sulahnan]

[ Honestly, that makes Athessa feel better equipped to talk about this. She's more at peace about her clan than she was when she came to Riftwatch, but it'll never be a happy story. ]

No. I lost them when I was a kid. Never figured out if it was slavers or bandits or what. That's why I don't have the blood-writing-- [ She gestures to her face and lack of vallaslin. ]

It's a rite of passage thing.

[bloodandsand]

That is a pity.

[ And that does have some genuine feeling to it. ]

Dragon hunters found mine. Happily, it was long after I had completed my proving, but it is still quite miserable to lose one's clan.

[ Not that their collective had ever used so formal a word. They had been of the High Lady and that had been the only thing that mattered. ]

[sulahnan]

Dragon hunters?!

[bloodandsand]

Oh, yes. That's who they send in Nevarra to kill high dragons, you see. Most unpleasant individuals.

[ This is a normal sentence that is obviously connected to all the other sentences she's said previously. ]

[sulahnan]

[ Is she missing something? ]

Then why would they kill your people?

[bloodandsand]

Why, because we served our High Lady of Flame and Blood, of course. They would not have reached her nest if they did not first storm our home.

[sulahnan]

[ She blinks. Blinks again. And a third time. ]

What.

[bloodandsand]

[ She blinks back and tips her head, puzzled. ]

What?

[sulahnan]

You...served a dragon.

[ ???????????? ]

[bloodandsand]

[???????? ]

Of course. How else would I be a reaver?

[sulahnan]

[ She makes the ever so articulate "Iunno" sound and shrugs her unbruised shoulder. How should she know?! ]

How should I know?

[bloodandsand]

I suppose the Dalish don't have reavers.

[ That makes sense, since Dalish don't serve High Dragons. ]

Well, now you know! Obviously one must serve a High Dragon if one wishes to be a reaver.

[sulahnan]

We don't even have warriors, really. Just hunters. So what is a reaver? The only other person I've met who gets the...I dunno, bloodlust? Like you is Deimos, and he's no reaver.