faderift | open to all

WHO: Character(s)
WHAT: Various open prompts for MAKING FRIENDS
WHEN: Eh, nowish
WHERE: Around the Gallows
NOTES: Potential references to slavery, anxiety, and injury.

i. The Courtyard, night
There have been times in the past when Tertia has had a bed to sleep in. But when she was servus publicus, she slept on a thin pad on the hard floor, and when she was fighting with the People she slept in a bedroll out in the field. She had a bed with the Magister, though. Soft and stuffed with goose-down. Gentle cotton sheets.

So sleeping in a bed has proven to be nearly an impossibility. And so at night, she's been taking a blanket and a thin pillow out to the courtyard, and she's been laying them down on the ground beneath the stars - or the clouds - to sleep.

The downside to this, though: she's likely a near-invisible figure in the dark. Someone taking a late-night stroll might well trip over a small sleeping girl, or might be startled to find that something out of the corner of their eye when they're having a smoke is stirring, elf-eyes glinting in the dark.

ii. The Library, daytime
There are signs when someone isn't a particularly adept reader. Tertia bears those signs: her lips move as she reads, forming the sounds unconsciously, and her finger traces along the lines as she goes along. But she also doesn't waver. She sits for actual hours, focused intensely on the work, determination in the set of her jaw and the furrow of her brow.

iii. The Training Grounds, daytime; action brackets preferred
Excuse me.

[ A young elf woman might approach you while you're training. Her staff makes it clear that she's a mage. Her manner is softspoken and mild, and she asks - ]

Would you tell me a bit more about your fighting style? Where did you learn it?

iv. Wildcard
[ do WHATEVER ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Ellie nods- she can't claim to be really knowledgeable about how Thedosian magecraft works, only that it does. Everyone seems to lean into a different aspect of it. It's something she should study, one of these days.

Ellie doesn't come into Tertia's space either. Instead she opens her hand, so Tertia can see the small knife she's using. It's almost more of a dagger, not actually built for being thrown. Dwarven-make, if she has an eye for those things.]

Not technically.

[She hesitates, in the way that someone who has to explain something impossibly weird might, when they don't expect to be believed.]

I'm a rifter. I have a couple of things I can do, and they're technically magic. A Templar can disrupt it. But I'm not a mage the same way people in Thedas think of mages? And I can't teach it.

[This last bit's said apologetically.]

[ If there's one advantage to having rather little life experience, it's that you don't really know when something deserves skepticism. So she nods as she listens, and she doesn't question any of it. ]

Are you really from another world?

[Ellie pauses, then nods, reaching down to unbind her right hand. It's usually covered by a fingerless archer's glove. But it's there in her palm; that slash of green, shining out of her skin like a tiny rip in the fabric of reality.]

Yeah.

Believe me, it was just as much of a shock for me.

[ Shock is not, perhaps, an apt descriptor for what Tertia's expressing, though. It's more akin to simple curiosity. ]

How long have you been here for?

A year and a half, maybe? I came in late spring, and it's fall again.

[Ellie gives a shrug; more for something to do with her shoulders than to express any particular feeling.]

Long enough to learn the ropes, but not long enough to stop being surprised when weird shit happens.

And -

[ Oh. A little motion of embarrassment. ]

What's your name? I'm so sorry, I should have asked that first.

Ellie.

[It ends with a small burst of laughter, more an exhalation of breath, a smile.]

And you're Tertia, right? I- heard you on the crystals, a couple of times.

[Also part of why she forgot to ask, or offer her own name.]

Oh.

[ A little flustered - ]

Yes. I've been - a little chatty, haven't I? There are certainly a lot of people to meet. I hope it hasn't been annoying.

You're not. You were nice. Especially with Gwenaëlle.

Don't feel... [Ellie wobbles a hand, to indicate some of way-] about that, by the way. I've been trying to figure her out ever since we met.

Did you get what you needed? With the magic tutoring?

[ Tertia relaxes a little bit. ]

Well, I'm still not very good at it. And that's not fixed yet. But people have been helpful - it's just up to me to push myself, I think.

[ And, with Gwenaelle - ]

I do think she means well. She just doesn't seem to have a sense that - oh - people maybe don't necessarily know the things she knows, or the people.

Yeah. She's seen a lot of things. Been with Riftwatch longer than most of us here.

[Ellie's coming off of years now of not being able to figure out the roads that Gwen's mind chooses to take and why. She's starting to be fine with that.]

Do you- want someone to practice with? I'm a little more durable than some people, so you don't have to worry as much about hurting me if you fuck up.

[Because magic, and all.]

Durable?

[ Tertia cocks her head to the side, trying to determine whether that's bravado or an actual physical fact about her in some way. ]

[Ellie smiles, broadly. There is a little bit of bravado there, but at least it's warranted.]

It's one of the things I can do with magic. It's not a shield, it just makes me a little harder to hurt for a little while.

So if you get through it, you're doing good.

If you're sure. Then yes, I think that'd be useful to me. [ Then - ] Are you sure?

Yeah. Just. Maybe let's work up to the fireballs thing. Yeah?

Um - Well, that's sort of all I'm really good at. And lightning.

Well. Shit. I can see how that's gonna be a problem.

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