faderift | ( OPEN ) blending about as well as somebody wearing the glasses with a fake nose attached

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( OPEN ) blending about as well as somebody wearing the glasses with a fake nose attached

WHO: Emma Swan and PLEASE YOU don't leave me on my own
WHAT: Emma trying to make sense of the new place she's flumped in
WHEN: backdated-ish towards closer to her arrival thru now?
WHERE: Gettin all cozy in Emprise/Skyhold I believe
NOTES: Nothing dramatic yet. at least I don't think so. tba.

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It's at least a little bit ironic that she's more powerful than she's ever been and she still doesn't have much of anything. Being a rifter apparently rewards her no incentives, which is not surprising really but at least a little discouraging. She's been stuck close to a few weeks now and she's no closer to finding a way out, and no closer to finding a steady source of income, either.

She works little ends and odds here, yet she's not a great worker. When she can focus, she's quite dilligent and determined. It's focusing that is the hard part. Jobs that get more complicated than a monotonous repeated task tend to get scattered quickly. And it's safe to say not all residents of Skyhold trust a rifter to do even the most menial of tasks. She's lucky to put together enough coin to get some food for her and Ruby on occasion, she certainly doesn't have enough money to buy something to arm herself.

She can't actually be hurt, yet the lack of an ability to defend herself when she can't use her magic makes her very nervous.

So occasionally when the soldiers are out training, or weapons are out for polishing and display in the courtyard, Emma is there to look wistfully at what she can't have yet. Oh she could steal one, it's just that would be awful stupid when she still sleeps and is forced to exist here for the time being. So for now she just watches... and occasionally she'll point out sloppy form if she spots it. Hey, she isn't a master at a sword but apparently being the daughter of Prince Charming has taught her something in the past two years. And she knows poor form if she sees it. (That sounds a bit more like her pirate boyfriend than her father, though, doesn't it?)

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Something she didn't know about until it was far too late? Dark Ones don't require a lot of sleep. There's only so much time she can pretend to be sleeping for Ruby's sake. When that gets to be too much, Emma generally wanders around the open areas of the fortress, trying to keep to herself and keep fairly quiet at that.

She seems to like the courtyard best, and is often found doing something with her hands. Braiding straw or even something she never dreamed she'd get into — knitting. Hey, the place is freezing and she's ... okay she's not good. If anyone wants some lumpy socks, though, she's your lady. She's game for other tasks to distract her, too, even if they end up mundane like sweeping or other chores.

It's possible one might catch her talking to herself. Under her breath, barely a whisper, enough that it can be forgotten as a trick of the fortress that barely sleeps more than she does. You'd have to get pretty close to understand what she's saying, and that's probably for the best. Chances are you don't want to know.

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The last thing one would think Emma would be interested in is more magic. She's got plenty, thanks, and not a whole lot of places for it to go. Not to mention the fact she has magic seems more like a strike against her than a positive quality in this place, though to be fair, when has magic ever felt like a gift over a curse? She tries her best not to use magic, no matter the situation, just to protect herself...

Yet she still can't quite keep her nose out of it all the same.

The magic of this world is very interesting to her, and it's often she'll watch mages at work, though if they ask her to buzz off she will. They use techniques completely foreign to the ones she's started to understand back home. Emma is intensely interested in how mages control their abilities, quietly hoping that she can learn something from them.

She hasn't gone as far as asking questions, yet... but the way she lingers and watches has to be at least a little bit creepy, especially if the poor mage in question has no damn idea who she is.

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hit me up with whatever you like! Emma roams the castle a lot, and probably is distracted and weird while doing so. hit me up at goplayzelda if you wanna chat magic stuff!

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It's definitely eyecatching to watch an amazon woman use both a staff and magical blade all at once. Emma herself has a little practice with a sword and a little more with magic but she's never thought to combine the two and has no idea how she'd keep them straight even if she wanted to. She leans against a pillar and fiddles with the overly long hem to her sleeve with rather wide eyes as she watches. She admires the dedication and consistency. She always gets frustrated when she practices and things don't come to her quickly.

When the woman seems to slow, Emma does an admirable job of pretending to pay attention to something else, but the something else is a wall so she is pretty easy to see through. She can't even be surprised when she's called out for watching, she'd been staring quite intently. It'd been incredible to watch.

"Oh, I don't—" know who that is, is the end of that sentence. Emma isn't sure if she can learn the magic of this world and even if she could, she isn't sure she needs any more. "You looked pretty good to me, for what it's worth. I find it hard enough to just swing a sword most of the time." At least she's improved from the messy flailing she used on the dragon... That feels like a pretty long time ago.

Korrin doesn't seem to actually mind the attention; if she really wanted to practice without an audience, there are far more secluded places she could pick instead. Granted, garnering attention not her main goal, but she can take it in stride. The path of the Knight-Enchanter isn't a common one here, and rarity tends to draw interest.

She rests her staff against a tree, flexing her hands before they start cramping up on her. The compliment gets a small grin out of her, as Korrin isn't immune to flattery. "Thanks. It used to be just the staff for the longest time, so balancing that with the spirit blade is a relatively new thing. You'd think with the spirit blade being lighter than a normal sword that it'd be easier, but you're still learning how to dual-wield. A challenge, but I like to think a worthy one."

She moves a little closer for the sake of conversation and that makes how tall her company is even more obvious. Emma is a fairly normal height for a woman in her world, five feet and five inches that she's used to hiking up a little bit with a lifted boot. It means she's a least a head shorter than her present company, maybe a head and a half. She crosses her arms and maintains the same degree of confidence she'd have if things were the other way around, though. A massive amazon woman is impressive, by she doesn't think she needs to be afraid.

"Well if two heads are better than one, two weapons can't be a bad thing." Emma thinks she'd rather focus on one over the other, but she's also not particularly skilled enough in either to be able to multitask. "I can tell you've really been working at it. It shows." Emma is good at practicing when she's good at something. She likes the feeling of doing a spell properly or completing something without being taught. She gives up fast when she's not very good, and immediately when it feels too dangerous to learn. "Do you have to focus on the blade the entire time? Or is it like summoning it and it's there for a bit?" She sounds like maybe she's not completely ignorant to magic and maybe that's true, but she's not likely to openly admit it.

Constantly aware of the size difference between her kind and humans -not to mention even shorter races- Korrin keeps enough distance so that the woman doesn't have to crane her neck too much when they speak. That's more or less the only reason, as she doesn't have a huge personal space bubble. She crosses her arms and n

"I always have to focus on it to summon the blade, every stroke. It's worth it, though. Spirit blades slice though even the toughest hides, putting me toe-to-toe with actual warrior types. It also never breaks and can deflect projectiles if used right, a huge boon when Barrier spells aren't enough."

She lifts her dragon-shaped spirit blade hilt for a better look. "I had to craft this -admittedly with assistance- before I could begin training. A willing spirit is bound to it, that weaves mana into a blade at my command. It's nothing like those rift demons, just a wisp. That's more than enough for this purpose."

That all was pretty impressive. Emma doesn't know that much about normal swords, but she has to guess that a conventional one didn't have all the properties that a magical one apparently had. It was honestly a bit confusing. The magic of Thedas was completely different from what Emma was used to. Still, she can't deny her interest, it's obvious on her face, even, as she peers at the hilt, though she doesn't try to touch it.

"There's a spirit inside the blade?" She's unfortunately heard of souls being trapped in items — Sydney in the mirror, or genies in lamps — willingly is new to her, and smaller spirits are new to her too. "Is it from the Fade?" Emma sounds about as uncertain as she is, because as much as she's trying to understand the magic of this world, there's a lot she doesn't know about it. She asks with full expectation that she'll probably be wrong, or at least not entirely correct.

"All spirits are from the Fade, yes, but I found wisp essence at the Fallow Mire for the crafting." Korrin wrinkles her nose at mention of that horrid place, believing that giving a warning about it is the only kind thing to do. "Don't go there if you can help it, by the way. It's full of nothing but disease-ridden water and undead. The Inquisition assigned us there sometime ago, and ugh--never again."

Even Emprise du Lion, a mess if there ever is one, still ranks higher in her estimation. Backing up, she demonstrates with a practice swing so that Emma can get a better look than she might have at Korrin's full speed. "You know the funny apart? Apostates like me never get to learn this kind of magic, normally. If war hadn't broken out, Knight-Enchanters would still only be Circle mages. It's fun to see the look on a stuffy Loyalist or Chantry sister when they realize what I've learned, despite what I obviously am to them."

"Duly noted." The idea of a mine might call to certain people, though Emma really didn't find the call of ore or money particularly appealing. Add in dirty, dangerous water and dead people? Well, no thanks. She wasn't interested in pushing herself through a place like that unless it'd help her, and by the sounds of it she probably wouldn't be finding a portal home there.

Emma steps back and tilts her head a little as she watches, appreciating the unspoken gesture to slow down the movement so she can see it better. It doesn't make it any less impressive. Her attention is a little distracted, though, by the mention of apostates. She doesn't know exactly what that is, but with context she can guess the basics. "Apostate, what is that? Practicing magic out of a particular school?" She can understand the feeling of beating back expectation, at least. She's spent a whole life doing her best to do that of people that thought a homeless delinquent could not make anything of herself.

As the blade winks out again, Korrin straightens and shakes her head. "It means someone who isn't a Circle mage, or who escaped the Circle. I don't like using the same term for both, because there's a world of difference between the training styles of someone who was part of one and someone who never had that influence, but whatever. It's like people calling me a Qunari. It's technically wrong, but that's the term everyone's used to."

She just shrugs, not especially annoyed. If she got riled up every time someone misused those terms, she wouldn't have energy for anything else.

"I'm going to have to explain the Circle of Magi, aren't I? This will be fun. Just keep in mind that I'm very heavily biased against them. I love my freedom and Circle life is...pretty much the opposite of that."

"I guess you don't have to, but anything you've got to share about this place would be appreciated." She's been thrown in the deep end and Emma is doing her best to keep afloat, but there's so much she doesn't know still. She's trying to keep track of it all and she's learning new things every day. She'd like one day to not have so many questions, it's as tedious to not know as it is to explain.

She can understand a bias and Emma has always been one to make her own opinions, but honestly? A description like that doesn't gear her toward the Circle, at all. She's always valued freedom, freedom and choice. She can understand wanting to control magic, but from what she understands a lot of people with magic are treated like second class citizens to ones that did not, and she's not ever going to be okay with that. "So the Circle is the general way people learn magic here, I'm guessing?"

Korrin nods, her lips forming a thin line. "For most humans and non-Dalish elves, yeah. I have yet to hear about one of my kind put in a Circle, but I've no desire to be the first one. Anyway, the main religion here, the Chantry, is all about how 'magic must serve man and never rule over him' and they interpret that to mean overseeing the lives of mages. Said mages don't get a choice in the matter; when they're discovered, Templars -an order of warriors who work for the Chantry and can cancel magic thanks to the lyrium they take- take them to a Circle tower. They never see their families again or have any contact with them. If there's more than one mage in a family, they're sent off to different Circles. Except in rare circumstances, they never even leave their tower.

And when they're prepared enough, they're put through a Harrowing. Which is to say, they have to enter the Fade and face off a demon in a contest of wills. If they return from that, they're a full mage. If they get possessed...well, that's what the Templars standing guard are for. Like everything else, there's no choice about it. The only opt-out is to become Tranquil, which means a severed connection from the Fade. No dreams, no magic, no emotion. And most of them stay in the Circle anyway, because where the hell else are they going to go?

Even as a full, Harrowed mage, life in a Circle sucks. The Templars have ultimate authority over you. Some might have good intentions, but they're at best glorified jailers. And the worst get away with horrific abuses. Or they did, then the Mage-Templar War kicked off and the Circles fell. You'd think that would make life easier, but...not really. Free of restraint from the Chantry after leaving it, Templars -and some mages- went nuts, massacring anyone with a staff or blade. Plenty of people were caught in the crossfire, and if you ever got to the Hinterlands, you'll still see its effects. A lot of the mages were so damn sheltered, and were purposely made that way. They had no idea how to live independently, so the outside world was a huge shock to them. It still is, though this current clusterfuck is making them grow up fast."

It's a lot of information to stomach all at once, but information that's good to know. Emma has already gotten a sense of the hostility between mages and the rest of the population, but the information explains a little more. It's context she didn't have and appreciates having. Honestly, bias or not, she can't think of a particularly good reason for people with magic to be treated in the way they were. It disgusted her, honestly, and it was obvious on her face.

They were probably trying to prevent the kind of awful magic that resulted in the curse, but the idea of how many people suffered for it made Emma a little sick to her stomach.

"That's horrible," she says, and she means it. "This war, does that mean they're getting a chance at more freedom now?"

Emma's disgust is met with a sympathetic nod and some approval. It's an abyssmal standard, to hope for others to realize the treatment of mages is beyond horrific. And yet, many -especially those devoted to the Chantry- fall short of that standard. It's enraging and depressing, though Korrin chooses to focus on the former over the latter.

"That's exactly what it means. People are realizing the Inquisition is the only one making headway in all this mess, which means it has influence. What happens here could affect the rest of Thedas. Well, except Tevinter, but that's a different can of worms. That's why the mage council we have here is so important; if we show people that mages can effectively govern themselves, the Circles might not return. Might. I suppose it's up to the new Divine, whenever she's elected. But that won't be any time soon, not while all this is happening."

Her insight is probably based on the fact that she has magic and has already experienced what it is like to be feared. She can see that fear being used in vile ways, yet the wrong choice made because of fear didn't make it any less wrong. It was wrong to assume someone with magic was a threat, even if magic in this realm apparently involved a connection to the fade.

Emma has heard whispers of the mage council, and nods as she considers it. It reminds her a bit of the civil rights movements back on Earth, with a different skew. "And the Divine... what's that?" Some kind of office, Emma imagines, just by the fact that it required electing.

"The Divine is the leader of the Chantry and is always a woman--at least everywhere except Tevinter, which does the opposite and has its own version of the Chantry. Anyway, she governs it all from the Grand Cathedral in Val Royeaux. The latest one, Divine Justinia, died in the explosion at the Conclave, the meeting meant to attempt establishing peace between mages and Templars. That's where the Breach was formed, the mother of all rifts, and everything's so chaotic. Without a Divine to guide them, a lot of the faithful are...agitated. And that sometimes means lashing out.

However, she did authorize the formation of the Inquisition before she died, as a last-ditch attempt to restore order, so that's why some of the Chantry acknowledge us. Only some, though. The rest refuse to believe it and denounce us as heretics."

"I can guess, but what does lashing out mean?" If she needs to be aware of potentially volatile people, Emma would like to have an idea of what she needs to expect. She's not going to use the information to proactively attack anyone, it's just a precaution. Lash out sounds diplomatic, and she'd rather have honesty.

No one's ever accused Korrin of being diplomatic, though she might already be feeling a little guilty for unloading so much information on Emma, most of it bad. Granted, it's stuff she needs to know, but she'd love to be the bearer of good news, just for once.

"Lashing out as in, people accusing mages of killing Divine Justinia with no proof. When the Herald died sealing the Breach, it happened again. Mages -and elves- are this world's scapegoats whenever shit happens. In Skyhold, that only gave way to violence once, during the brawl after the Herald's wake, but there's still enough tension to go around.

Outside the Inquisition's area of influence...well, I remember being told about how the Herald went to Val Royeaux to seek support, only to find out that the clergy were whipping people up into hysteria about the Inquisition. They only cut that shit out when the Templars decked one of them and withdrew their protection. We can enter there now without issue, but I still don't trust those Revered Mothers one damn bit. They're only behaving now because they need us."

It is a lot of information, yet she'd rather have too much than none at all, which was the position she'd been holding for too long. It's good to know more about this world she's trapped in. If there are other perspectives out there, she'll listen to them too. Emma has always been one to make her own opinion.

"Shit," she breathed, shaking her head. That was about what she expected from the term lashing out, yet the confirmation does not make her particularly happy. "It sounds like a mess. No offense."

Korrin lets out a mirthless chuckle at that, unable to hide her frustration with the circumstances. "That's a vast understatement, but yes. And yet, I still believe the Inquisition is the best means to get anything done around here. The Chantry's sitting on its ass, Orlais is busy fighting itself and so on. No one else is doing what needs to be done, and I'll be damned if I just stand by while Corypheus punches another hole in the Veil."

"I hope you're right, then. For everyone's sake." Considering she'd been dragged in through a rift, apparently, Emma was also invested in the idea of not seeing any more made. If she could help to limit the amount of people stranded in the same way she was, she'd do it; it was just the right thing to do.

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( OPEN ) blending about as well as somebody wearing the glasses with a fake nose attached

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so much tl;dr

I APPRECIATE THE TL;DR THO

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