faderift | O2 ♚ I'M A LONG TIME TRAVELER HERE

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O2 ♚ I'M A LONG TIME TRAVELER HERE

WHO: Character(s)
WHAT: Several Rifters and native drop-ins congregate at the Tavern as advertised via messenger crystal.
WHEN: Late January (forward-dated for recentmost app approvals!)
WHERE: The Tavern, private room
NOTES: OOC plotting here! Feel free to treat this like a general mingle log, but I will be making empty starters below for specific topics for group threads/conversation. An infodump/glossary link may also be pending from Araceli/Church.

It's past dinner time. This provides a reasonable excuse to drink only out of the ale pitchers set up for the expected guest, although there's a little bread and salt pork set up on the one bench along the wall. Dozens of chairs and a few less tables are loosely organized into groups. There's no dais or marked center for the room, the bar room version of the principles of the Arthurian round table, all being equal in the private room. Which, granted, is only as private as the public announcement and common courtesy might enforce. In other words, that can't be a real expectation.

However, the other Tavern workers are watching the door and main floor discreetly, multi-tasking with running the usual evening business. It's not so different from any other night, not even for the involuntary immigrants gathering on the second level. Drink, talk, and get to know.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I did what I could, soon after arriving, to prove I was not the demon they thought. [Lenneth offered, lacing her fingers together around the outside of her tankard.] Two Knight-Commanders of the Templar Order performed their rites on me. Voluntarily. The pain was... exquisite. [Her lips thinned slightly, remembering.] Yet, I seemed to pass their tests to their satisfaction. At that time they made it known to me that no other Rifter would be made to undergo such tests. I still have the trust and acquaintance of Knight-Commander Sauveterre, and believe that he would speak to--at the very least--our not being demonic in nature.

"What." Korrin's eyes immediately narrow, as it's the first time she's heard about any of this. That the Templars would do such a thing, even wit permission from Lenneth, is far overstepping their bounds. "You said two. Who else?" It seems like the sort of thing Nerva would do as well, but if she remembers right, that particular Templar wasn't around yet.

Whoa whoa whoa. 'Performed their rites' is the sort of thing you should only hear at like...a church service or an exorcism. [He considers that for a second.] Which...I guess kinda the same thing, depending. I mean. Who else is gonna do an exorcism?

I mean my point is, like, what the fuck did they do to you? Okay, we fell out of a hole in the sky, that's bad, but I think I've had all of like...one or two people ever think I was a demon. [And...not for the fact of being a Rifter but shh.] Sure I get a couple dirty looks from people sometimes but, hey, that's not actually...strange. To me.

I might have had a...disagreement, of sorts, with Knight-Commander Stannis when he was still with the Inquisition. [If they're discussing Templars, she might as well start there herself because while she wasn't expecting them to roll out the welcome wagon, the rather baseless accusation definitely stung. A glance is sent Korrin's way - of course she brought her native girlfriend along as requested - as she adds to the notes she already has with her.

Someone has to write this down and seeing as she's already been doing that, she might as well continue, writing quickly in shorthand for later.]

My own experience was more an accusation by a young man, I believe it is water under the bridge now but given how the statement was made publicly and all I've heard about the treatment of mages, with the marks we bear being magical, there are still likely to be those with less trust than we should like. The recent attack by the Abomination means we should still be paying attention to whatever they expect of the native mages.

[Or: you expect the worst and make absolutely certain you've prepared back-up plans and exit strategies. Or that's how a thief and a guard does it.]

Knight-Commander Baratheon was the second of the two. [Lenneth interjected; an answer for Korrin, and a brief nod in Araceli's direction as she mentions the name. The corner of her mouth twitches in a slight wry smile.] I believe that disagreement you had was around the same time I volunteered to be tested--he had sent a message by the crystal?

As to what they did... [Ice blue eyes narrowed slightly, as she searched her memory.] There was a spell cast to remove any stray magic from the area, and then a... It is difficult to describe. A great burning light. I know not what it looked like from the outside. The presence of the Maker, they said. Had I been a demon, I imagine I would have been slain--or mortally wounded, at the least.

[Seemingly unconcerned by this, Lenneth lifts her shoulders in a slight shrug.] I was not.

[Not a name she misses, not after the accusation that had been entirely unnecessary in her opinion, never a fan of the guilty until proven otherwise way of looking at the world.] Yes, I think it was the first message I saw after arriving in Skyhold, probably about the time there was the tavern brawl between mages and Templars after the Herald's funeral.

[She'd missed that but a rifter presence might only have made things worse.

As Lenneth speaks, she frowns, jiggling a leg to have at least some outlet before she downs half her drink. Her mark had hurt when she'd come to Skyhold, stinging and pulsing, something she'd barely been able to ignore until it had started to ache less. Added to her confusion and fear, having something like that done to her?

She doesn't slam the glass down but it's a near thing, her smile not reaching her eyes though by no means does it look forced.]

And they thought that this was acceptable, based on nothing more than their own suspicions and knowing absolutely nothing about us at all, and about as much about the rifts? Bastardos.

In fairness, it was my idea. [Of course, she hadn't known anything about the power the Templar held when she did so, nor that she was disrupting a precedent between the Templar and Mages. Or that encouraging a powerful body to abuse that power in a mostly neutral stronghold might have been a bad idea. Truthfully, she hadn't thought about any of the possible repercussions at all. How could she have? She had known nothing of the world, had only heard a ringing condemnation she had the ability to negate.] He counseled against it at first, but I insisted. It was less difficult on me, I think. I am no stranger to travelling between worlds, nor a stranger to duty or pain. I thought perhaps I could bear it if necessary, and it might help us all. [Although it chafed her that the act had apparently done little to help the reputation of the others who had come through the rifts.]

You make a good point that it would not have been necessary had we not all been deemed untrustworthy or demonic simply by issuing from the same rift as demons.

He said something to me about proving my worth, in addition to what he said about feeling the weight of a chain about our necks. [And that had rankled immediately, like any instance where someone is assumed guilty until proven innocent because that is always harder to prove, especially when you don't know any of the rules you're playing by.] Other worlds didn't exist until I came to Thedas, and magic? Magic was a trick done in the street, swallowing swords, making coins disappear and reappear, and I know how those work.

[Every thief learns sleight of hand, they have to, but Thedas? Thedas is real magic, the kind that was only in stories at home.]

I do understand some of possession, and how it works though it is my understanding that typically they would be recognised as not entirely human. Or whatever else they happen to be.

[That still takes getting used to, a lifetime of simply humans and clarifying feels so strange yet necessary, she has no wish to insult anyone.]

Korrin arrives at the meeting, despite not being a Rifter. Mostly, she's just there to let moral support -and a qunari cushion- to Araceli, to whom she pays the bulk of her attention. But what the others say and do doesn't go unnoticed, and should any concerns overlap with that of the mage council, she'll speak up.

There's a presence to Korrin's left, audible, not trying all too hard to be subtle or anything like that. The next moment, Marcel slings his tall frame into the chair next to hers, scraping the legs to give them a civil enough distance. "Are you Araceli's friend?" he asks. She might recognize his voice from the announcement, over the crystals. He's swarthy and dressed right; something about him might remind of pirates, if she's met the type before. But he's not from around here, and that much is evident from the mark on his hand and the subtle wrongness of his accent, his verbiage, even before he introduces himself.

"Marcel Gerard." He offers her a handshake.

Indeed Korrin recognizes that voice, and she's met her fair share of pirates. That attire doesn't provoke any nasty looks from her, nor does his accent or the mark. But then it might make more sense with her slight grin and next words. "More than a friend, actually."

Extending her own hand, her grip is firm, her own strength typical of her kind. "Korrin Ataash, of the Valo-Kas company...and the mage council." Yes, it's taking a while to remember to tack that onto her introductions.

By now, Marcel has fought a few Vashoth, just sparring and that sort of thing. He certainly has an appreciation for their physical prowess, and by appreciation that's actually quite sincere. Insofar as that none of them have made a sincere effort to try to murder them yet. "More than a friend," he says. "I should've guessed, the way she talks about you." He smiles.

And also makes a mental note not to let on he knows around Araceli, at least until the small woman demonstrates some inclination to share. "The Mage Council? I don't want to make it sound like I expect you all know each other, but I honestly have no idea if that'd offend." He settles his elbows on the table. "Have you met Samouel and Dorian?"

That comment about Araceli warms her cheeks and she has to restrain herself from asking after just what her rifter paramour was saying. But this meeting is for other things than gushing about her love to someone just met. She'll behave herself, more or less.

"Yes I have, though neither are officially on the Council. They were smart enough not to get roped into politics. They're both good men, and good examples of what mages can be. Don't let gossip about the latter being from Tevinter fool you about that."

One might get the impression that Marcel is trying not to smile. This impression would be true. He likes seeing kids in love, and a match between a Rifter and a Thedosian seems like a rather optimistic beginning, at this stage of the war and accidental interdimensional invasions. His eyes drift down at the table. He lets Korrin change the subject. Or keep it unchanged, as it is.

"That's my impression too," he answers, nodding. Samouel and Dorian both seem like rather solid characters to him, and obviously dedicated to war and justice for their own reasons. "They seem like good men to have at your back if you're going to war. And I'm assuming you are." He folds his arms on the table, and jerks his head at in the rough direction of Jamie and Lenneth, camped out variously over yonder. "What would you say to Rifters who were looking to join up? Pros and cons?"

"There are some of both, though in my biased opinion the pros outweigh it. Some Thedosians have had shards embedded in them, just as you, but not nearly as many. You're the only people guaranteed to have them, and we need those to close the rifts. No magic, no other ability, can do that. So, we need you. The Inquisition provides basic necessities, a purpose, and hopefully answers, the more we research. You could get all that on your own, sure, but not nearly as easily. Free stuff versus those you have to pay for, if you can find them at all due to war and chaos? Not a difficult decision, really.

The main cons I see are simply that you're new to this world and thus need a lot of catching up to do. It's a lot of information to swallow, no doubt, we need to figure out a way of making it easier for you. Field trips, maybe. There's also the fact that if you have magic, you'll be treated as well as us natives who are mages--which, outside of the Inquisition, isn't great. Things are changing, but bigotry dies hard, especially when the Chantry has hammered it in for the past thousand years."

"Bigotry," Marcel repeats, with some interest and a little concern. He's certainly noticed that there are unsavory attitudes toward magic-wielders, and he'd thought it a little concerning that Salvatore had apparently spent the greater part of his youth shut up indoors. Nonetheless. "Do you say that because you don't think there should be any concern about mages, the connection to the Fade, and all," he says, "or because you think there's too much of it?"

He appreciates that she already set herself up that way, biased opinions. To him, though, perspective is useful. Culture. Bad experiences matter and ought not be discounted, as well as good ones, and a woman who wants to join a war to defend a world that's treated her harshly speaks to something interesting. "You've been treated well within the Inquisition, at least. That's good to hear."

"I have, mostly, though after the Herald's death there were Templars ready to accuse us of having a hand in her fate. They said the same thing about the Conclave and the death of Divine Justinia. Mages are common scapegoats, though our organizing has cut on that, as has Inquisition leadership not supporting such." Korrin sighs, crossing her arms.

"Any mage who would say we're no danger at all is incredibly foolish, if not deluded. There are so many ways a mage can go wrong, without the proper training. But doing as the Chantry did; treating mages as criminals for daring to exist, imprisoning them in those Circles and forever keeping them at the mercy of Templars? That's no life. And it made acceptance as an apostate nearly impossible, even for those who managed to keep their freedom and weren't hunted down. There needs to be balance. I can only hope we'll prove that the Council is a step in the right direction."

The description that Korrin lays out is just like what the boy Marcel met at the Tavern had spoken of. Poor Salvatore. Marcel fought tooth and nail for freedoms of various kinds, so the notion galls him, even if he's frankly a little too selfish to take the plights of others too personally. He is reminded, too, of the way that he's handled some of his own-- political maneuverings, but that again is where empathy runs out. He has always tended to look after his own.

A category that's broader and more inclusive than ever, in Thedas. For now, he lets sympathy show warmly out of his eyes.

"Balance sounds about right," he says. "Frankly, I've met a lot more of your kind than I have these Templars. But that might change soon." He gestures around the room. "There's been a little bit of talk of getting involved helping with the Inqusition, and of representation as we do so. Not sure it's gonna be anything as formal as your Councils, but there's clearly a reason you have those. There's word going around that we might have to approach this-- Mr. Rutherford, or someone like him." Marcel folds his arms on the table. "Have you met him? Found him receptive to unlikely causes?"

Sympathy isn't unwelcome and Korrin's still surprised to find more of it among rifters than her fellow natives. She smiles faintly in response and nods at mention of Cullen, not instantly tensing up the way she would about any actual Templars. "I've met him, though I can't say we've had any extensive conversations. Still, actions speak louder than words and from what I've seen, he seems to genuinely care about the Inquisition and the people in it. If he was still a Templar, trusting him would be difficult...but he broke away from that life, and I can respect that. At the very least, he'll hear you out. Whether he does more than that, I can't say, but give him something to work with and there's at least a chance."

"Did he?" Marcel cocks his head. He supposes that makes sense; even back in his world, Templar was a rank and set of duties more than a defining axis of one's soul. Still, mages seem defined by their talent-- more than they want to be, sometimes, and it had sort of made sense to him that Templars and the couple of things he'd heard about their special abilities are similarly locked in. "I didn't know that was an option," he notes. "But that's good to know.

"The kind of man he is, among other things." After a moment, deeper thought clears from his face. He clearly arrives at some decision inside of himself. Marcel Gerard is always looking to the next step. Right here and now, though--

He motions around the room. "Is Araceli the only Rifter you've gotten to know?" he asks. "Run into any trouble with us yet? The demon rep has a few of us on edge, which is mostly ironic because we fought some real ones when we fell outta the sky. I have to wonder if anybody's been contributing to the bad name, intentionally or otherwise."

Edited (whoops) 2016-02-04 02:30 (UTC)

Korrin leans back and tilts her head, giving that some thought. "I'm not aware of any rifters making it worse for the others at large, intentionally or not. Not yet, anyway. And I've come to know a few others; I've been out on missions with Kain and Jamie, both capable guys. Others I know less well, but I haven't had issues with them.

As long as they're willing to help and do anything to rend the Veil into an even worse state than it already is, I'm fine with them as is. That rep will go away, given some time. People aren't wrong to fear the Fade and what comes out of it, at least demon-wise, but the more they see you fight demons and seal the rifts, the more they'll turn their attention to what really matters."

That makes perfect sense to Marcel, the rationale that the horned woman gives him. And he doesn't know Jamie well yet, but that certainly sounds just like him. "Long as we don't get underfoot," he answers, grinning lopsidedly, his teeth bright against his face. "I really hope a lot of people share your attitude. I mean, sounds like enough of the Inquisition does. Guess we're lucky you all were the ones who picked us up."

Out of the bog, in his case. Horrible.

"Anyone you think we should talk to, besides Rutherford? Or just one day show up, ready to work?"

"Scout Harding." That's said automatically, with no hesitation. If there's anyone more capable of sorting people out and sending them where they need to be, Korrin hasn't met them. "She's the lead scout, answering to Sister Leliana, the spymaster. Granted, she's not always in Skyhold thanks to scouting, but she often returns for supplies before heading out again. She knows everything about the areas under the Inquisition's protection, and a good deal about those beyond it.

Marcel considers this, and then nods his head. Scout sounds rather aptly named, unless that's actually a title. He opens his mouth to ask, then decides privately that that seems a little foolish. He'll figure it out on his own. What's a vampire good for, if not to stumble over a pitfall of pointless pride here or there? "I'll write both of them," he says. "With some of the more common questions and concerns." Spymaster. He'll file that one away for later, too.

"Have you and Araceli been out to the field together?"

O2 ♚ I'M A LONG TIME TRAVELER HERE

RIFTER PUBLIC IMAGE (HINT: IT'S BAD)

Re: RIFTER PUBLIC IMAGE (HINT: IT'S BAD)

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i could've sworn i replied to this sorry

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