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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If there's one thing that tends to draw attention, it's that of a tall (easily a foot taller than most human men) horned woman wielding a glowing blade in the training area. Korrin is going through her usual Knight-Enchanter drills, her every move precise and deliberate as any warrior's. Her blade is hardly typical of one, though, vanishes after every stroke, leaving just the hilt. She can quickly summon it again, though, her pace relentless.

The spirit blade isn't her only weapon, either. Today, it's as much about balancing the use of her staff as it is her typical blade drills. No mage goes inot battle without a staff, of course, and she's no exception to this rule. If anything, she seems to enjoy the challenge of learning how to balance them both.

Over and over, until she no longer has to think about it due to muscle memory. There is such a thing as too much training, though, and Korrin finally allows her glowing blade to fade out one last time, before her sword hand cramps up. Wiping her forehead, she glances around...and realizes she has an audience. That in itself isn't shocking, but she doesn't recognize this particular woman.

"Knight-Enchanter training. I'm still new to it; if you want a real show, Vivienne's the one to seek out."

Combat is something that Ellana only has some experience with, and she gets the feeling that if she's ever caught unawares on her own that she'll be dead before she can call for help. Every battle she's been in so far has had at least one other person there to take the weight of it off her. Mages are mainly ranged fighters; it's the battlemages and knight-enchanters who charge forward. Ellana, meanwhile, gets the sense that she wouldn't even be able to move in armor any heavier than what she already wears, so gearing up and charging forward isn't for her.

So she trains. She knows she's no tactician, and it's something she needs to get better at. Which spells work best for which situations, and how much mana is needed to place protective spells over herself if the enemy draws too near? She's been slacking lately, so now she devote a little time each day to practice.

Today she notices she's being watched and she stops, her wrist rotating her staff to sink the staff blade into the ground. Being that it's a human watching her, she braces herself for a rude comment even as she offers, "Hello."

Even this late at night sleep does not come easy- if it comes at all. Adelaide rouses Roul before she slips out of their room so he and the rest of her students won't be so concerned if they wake and she is still gone. A walk, perhaps, would clear her mind. Through the halls and past the gardens, lingering for a moment over that patch of grass that had been burnt to cinders months ago. What more can be done for it? For any of them?

At the moment, precious little. And thus she continues wandering out to the courtyard, pacing the perimeter in an attempt to exhaust herself before the soft murmurings of something and the telltale click of needles catches her attention. Curious- she follows the sound, peering at one of the newcomers. "It is an odd hour for knitting."

An elf with a tattoo of a tree on her face is sitting at a spinning wheel and spinning. What a shock. She doesn't always have to look at what she's doing, and her proximity to Emma means she's watching her out of the corner of her eye. After a moment, she pauses and looks up.

"You want to ask questions about mages?"

It has been a long few weeks, but Emma can't deny how grateful she is that she hasn't had to face those weeks alone. It hasn't been perfect, she knows that. Mostly because she's a mess, and she knows that too. She can't help but try to hide the worst from her friend, because no matter what Ruby says she doesn't deserve the burden that she knows her curse offers.

She keeps the dark tilt to her thoughts to herself, even if on occasion they escape in whispers. She doesn't talk about how the desire to use her magic is a constant struggle, and how it's often dark magic that calls to her most. The fact she hardly sleeps is something Ruby can't quite miss when she has the hearing of a wolf when Emma slips out every night. Still, having Red with her has helped her immensely, from someone to help scrounge together enough money to have dinner at night or someone else just as lost as she is.

Honestly, having someone she trusts is worth more to her than anything else. Emma is far too used to facing things on her own. The companionship Red gives her keeps her together more than the brunette's desperate attempts to take care of her, which seems ironic when she's immortal at the moment. Having a friend is what makes her feel a little closer to human, when most of the time it's easy to feel like a monster.

She can't be the best company lately, either, yet Red does not seem to let that slow down her antics. And today it has even earned a laugh, Emma shaking her head as the quickfooted brunette jumps from rampart to rampart, despite the fact it is setting Emma's mom senses off like crazy. "I know you think you're cute, but it's freezing and icy and you could fall and break your head open and then what are we going to do?" That's probably the mommest thing she's ever said, and that included the year that all she remembered was being Henry's mother.

"Now, those are the same eyes I get whenever I see someone sticking their bare feet in mud all day long."

Hard to not notice how the rifter studies the soldiers and the miserable form they take. Twisted Fate is far from a warrior himself, but he's seen many different kinds of ways to swing and hold a sword. The newer recruits do, indeed, stick out poorly.

He approaches Emma, tilting his ridiculously fancy at in greeting. "I suppose sword swinging's the same, no matter where you're from, eh?"

The wistful looks aren't missed. But there's not a lot that gets past him.

"Want to take a swing?" Bull makes certain he's a good distance behind her before speaking up, as a courtesy. People tend not to like something as big as a Qunari sneaking up on them, and while he doesn't think she'll spook? Better to err on the side of manners, anyway.

He crooks a grin at her before nodding to the sword rack. "Had your eye on those for a while, now."

Ingrid notices Emma off to the side, has seen her working about. She can appreciate a solid work ethic. She also suspects there is more to the woman than meets the eye. Her templar training has taught her how to spot mages, but there's something... off about this woman. If she is a mage, it's not like any Ingrid's encountered before.

Still, she approaches.

"Are you looking for a spar partner?"

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Curiosity

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Insomnia

curiosity

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