faderift | (no subject)

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WHO: Gavin and OPEN
WHAT: Gavin getting his bearings of Skyhold as the Inquisition reels from its loss.
WHEN: Beginning of game timeline, aka, nowish?
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: He's a derp, don't say I didn't warn you. Also, as I mentioned in his app, he's spent a long time wandering Thedas - so if you'd like to have it so they've already met previous to the conclave, and want to hash out some back history, let me know.

He hadn't expected to feel such a weight of helpless loss. After all, he hadn't even met her, despite being in Haven at the time. Despite somehow surviving the mess than ensued. He'd seen her, sure, but she was something high above him and they never actually crossed paths. Which was why, when her death hit him so hard, he was surprised.

It wasn't even the hopelessness that the situation was prone to give birth to. It was honestly for her - for the individual, rather than the Mark on her hand. But how could you mourn a person you never really knew?

Mostly, it turned out, by throwing himself into absolutely anything else. (At least this sort of running from his problems was productive. Mostly.) Luckily, Skyhold was hardly without things to do. The place was a shambles - an absolute mess - so he mostly tried to tag onto whatever work group was currently working. He sort of forgot to sleep, but that wasn't strange in of itself. Nor was the fact that he wasn't actually making himself very useful. He kept getting distracted. It wasn't his fault that everything in this place was fascinating. And fascinating things were much, much better than grief.

Which was why, anyone who happened to be in Skyhold, could find him in some very peculiar places. He'd managed to nearly plummet to his death from the rookery, get tangled in cobwebs in the hidden library in the basement, climb through the hole in Cullen's roof to get distracted by a bird instead of trying to fix it, and even had spent thirty minutes trying to get to know one of the horses. Also he kept not watching where he was going - physically running into people, or backing up into them, letting out a hasty apology and a lopsided, shameful grin.

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Korrin easily claims a table, as at this hour there aren't too many patrons. That and no one probably wants to tell a 'qunari' to move, anyway. She accepts her drink, chuckling at Gavin's unfortunate turn of events.

"It's for the best, though if you don't believe me I bet you'll still have your chance before long. I've met -three? no, four- others of my kind running around here, so they might try to accommodate that before long. But if you do, it can't hurt to bring along someone willing to pry you off the floor."

"Four of you?" Gavin asked. He'd seen a couple, but that didn't stop his surprise. "I didn't realise that there were so many. I thought - ah - most of your kind would kind of... be against the whole, ah, Inquisition thing." He gave her an apologetic smile.

"To be fair, though - of all the peoples in the world, the Qunari are the ones I know the least about."

"Well, five. I forgot about our new scout for a moment." Korrin takes a sip, then rolls her eyes, though the small smirk at her lips reveals she doesn't really take offense. "I'm not a Qunari, though. Sure, I have the horns, but I was never part of the Qun. So, that makes me a Vashoth. The others are either Tal-Vashoth or Vashoth, too. The actual Qunari? I have no idea what they think and I care even less, as long as they stay over there."

"Oh. That's right, I heard something about Tal-Vashoth, but I thought that just meant... I'm not sure, I thought it was a title. And Qunari was the race. So it's being part of the Qun, that makes the difference?"

A firm nod to that. "It makes every difference. Under the Qun, I wouldn't even really be considered a person, just a weapon. You know, because of being a mage. Not that they treat non-mages that much better, either. My parents broke off from the Qun when they were young, so they're the Tal-Vashoth. Same with my grandmother, mentor and company leader. They all broke away and are better for it."

He frowned at that. "I'd heard stories about their mages, but I never actually believed it. Do they really --" But he cut off, thinking better for it, and giving her a sheepish look. "Sorry. Well, I'm glad they did, then. Are you Tal-Vashoth, too, or just - Vashoth?"

"Just Vashoth. If you see a mage with stitch scars on their lips, that's a Tal-Vashoth--a former saarebas. I haven't seen many of those, though, so I doubt you'll come across them even here." As far as Korrin knows, she's the only Vashoth mage for miles around. "So, no Par Vollen for me. I'm just a Marcher."

Well that answered the question he hadn't really wanted to ask. "Well, we have that in common too, then. My clan usually roams around the Free Marches somewhere."

He smiled at that before taking a sip of his drink. "Were you in a circle, then, or...?"

Likewise sampling her own, Korrin nearly chokes on it at that question. "Have you ever heard of a Vashoth in a Circle? I'm seriously asking, because I haven't. Andraste's tits, what a thought. No, but I had a mentor. My parents had something to do with that, actually. My mentor was their friend, and they didn't want said friend to meet a saarebas' fate. So, they smuggled them out, away from all that rot. When I came into my magic, I had someone to teach me. Sometimes karma happens."

Gavin flushed with embarrassment, then laughed to try to shake it off. "Sorry, I warned you that I knew very little about it. Even circles - they don't tend to be interested in letting a random elf wander in, for curiosity's sake."

He smiled, then, though, because such karma was often rare, and nothing to sneeze at. "They sound like someone important to you," He said, his tone softening slightly. "They were a good mentor?"

Okay, Gavin had a point. The image of Korrin in a Circle will still amuse her for some time to come, though. Amusement is easier to focus on than the revulsion at such restrictions on her freedom.

Her expression softens and she nods, thinking back. "Definitely. She taught me that magic is a gift and I needed to treat it with respect, but not fear or hate what I was. It's training like that which makes me think we don't need Circles in the first place. If you have someone willing to explain the dangers of the Fade and teach you how to control yourself, that's all you need. You don't need to be a damn prisoner for the rest of your life."

"She sounds like someone very worthy," Gavin decided with a warm smile.

"Most of our mages stay with us," Gavin continued, "We usually keep two a clan, but Ashara has three - two of which are here, now! So the idea of keep mages prisoners at all is... very strange. Our Keepers are always mages."

"Why is that? Is there a specific reason known, or just preference?" Korrin hasn't had a lot of exposure to the Dalish, so she might as well ask while time and opportunity permit. "What happens to extra mages? I can't believe they'd send them to the Circles."

"Usually they're sent to other clans who have a need of them," Gavin explained, and then looked a little guilty. "Sometimes they're just - left to go their own way, but... Well. Like I said, we have one mage more than we're really supposed to, so my clan obviously doesn't like to do that."

Korrin's brow furrows at that. "'Left to go their own way'? Isn't that dangerous, though? Without a clan to protect them, aren't they prey for Templars? Not to mention, who teaches them to withstand demons and the like?" She's hoping it's not really as irresponsible as it sounds.

"I wish I could tell you, but as I've never actually seen it done, I have no idea," Gavin replies apologetically. "I'm sure they're trained, to make sure they don't hurt themselves or anyone else, at the very least. And I think a few of them end up in circles, sometimes..." His voice trailed off uncomfortably. and he distracted himself with his drink. "Your way sounds - ah - much better."

Seeing his discomfort, Korrin eases up on her tone, which was more directed at those who would cut them loose anyway. Not him. "Well, I can't say that's how it goes for all Vashoth. We don't have a firm set of traditions the way you do, outside of 'don't be like the Qun'. I think I was lucky, perhaps luckier than some. I don't know for certain."

"Do you know many other Vashoth?" Gavin asked, raising his brows with curiosity. "I can't imagine there are really that many of you - or I would have come across more earlier, you would think. But maybe I just keep missing them."

"Oh, there are plenty but they tend to keep to the fringes. Much like Dalish, in a way. We move around a lot more due to mercenary jobs than anything else, since humans by and large aren't that interested in accepting us. And there are some mages, but I can't say I know more than a handful, and only two of those growing up."

If that sounds lonely, Korrin doesn't show it. She just shrugs, as it was what it was and she's just grateful to have gotten the training needed at all. It might not have happened, otherwise.

It does sound lonely, but it doesn't inspire pity. Gavin is pretty at home with loneliness, so instead it gives a sense of camaraderie, more than anything else. "It must be a bit strange, then, coming here. I have a feeling we'll get more Vashoth rather than less, as the time goes by. If my clan showing up is any indication of how upside down things are getting."

"I admit it's a lot more Dalish than I thought I'd see here, but we all have our reasons for being invested in this, don't we? Other Vashoth might feel the same. And if any of them are mages, we'll have to form a club with decoder rings and secret handshakes."

Or not, but having someone who knew exactly where she came from would be refreshing. As it is, the Dalish are the closest she has to that.

"Do the Vashoth have secret handshakes?" Gavin asked, with a sudden intense solemn curiosity that might have come off sincere if that little flicker of a grin at the corner of his mouth didn't give the game away. "Will you teach it to me? I'm sure I could pass for one, if I tried--"

Korrin snickers. "A tiny Vashoth with face tattoos instead of vitaar? I'm not sure they'd buy that, you know. And I'm not having you get me kicked out of any Vashoth club."

"Hey I'm not tiny, I'm just - efficiently built." He grins at her. "Can you at least sneak me into the club to get a peak? I could bring cookies..."

She pauses and pretends to consider this. "Welllll, cookies are a good bribe. And I can't be the only one with a sweet tooth. I suppose that can be arranged, just for you."