Coping Methods | Open

[obi_wanmanshow]

WHO: Obi-Wan Kenobi and whomever shall encounter him
WHAT: Obi-Wan hangs about Skyhold
WHEN: Since his arrival at Skyhold through Drakonis
WHERE: Skyhold Library and also Some random battlements action
NOTES: None yet

1 | A Quiet, Well-Lit Place
The Inquisition Library was a curious thing. He was use to holos and databases, searchable by voice or material input, by keyword and title and author and a thousand other small conveniencs that managed, one after the other, to strie him at the worst of times. It was strange, to realize how privileged even the meanest peasant on the farthest Rim planet was, by comparison to this-- to the idea of something you needed being just at your fingertips, but so easily misplaced.

He wasn't even sure if the book he was looking for existed, let alone in a language he could be gauranteed of understanding. Translation technology was more lacking than common index, and his communicator, which might have helped, was little more than salvage.

After a time, Obi-Wan simply sighed, rubbed at the bridge of his nose, and put his latest selection away-- as unsuitable as the last. Clearly Materials Enhancement: The Enchanting Art of Lyrium was going to be of no use to him. Perhaps to anyone!

What in the world was Lyrium, anyways?


2 | The Truth Between
There were a lot of jokes made about Jedi and meditation.

Most of them were grounded in truth. For example, that Jedi were so inneffectual that they responded to ever crisis by taking a nap. Not that Obi-Wan was sleeping, despite appearances. He's sat, cross-legged, and very still, just on the edge of the parapet overlooking the peaceful goings-on of the courtyard below on one hand, and wide, wild view of the mountains on the other. The tower wall at his back provides some shelter, both from the wind, and from other people, but by and large he is quite exposed-- and, seemingly, unconcerned about this fact.

Actually, maybe he is sleeping. He hasn't moved in a long time, his eyes are closed, why, anyone could just come right up and--

"May I help you?"

...or not.




3 | Synecdoche
The Lightsaber was spread out in pieces on the table by the window. It was a lovely antique, this window, beautifully made with thick, bubbly glass in beautifully cut shapes depicting... Something, surely. Obi-Wan would likely have needed a more than passing understanding of the local religions to have said exactly what. Regardless, it was the brightest place in the tower, at this hour, with the sun streaming in to illuminate the exposed guts of his once-functional lightsaber.

The casing was cracked, of course, and several connections severed, one or two slagged beyond simple repair-- they'd need re-insulating and solder at best, and to be replaced outright, at worst. He was hoping, praying in a way, for the former. A replacement of sufficient purity and delicate construction would be hard to find in a society that viewed a blacksmith's anvil as a suitable tool for weapon-construction. And the insulating rings around the power supply weren't in their best shape either. It was a miracle the crystal wasn't cracked!

But it wasn't.

There it stood, sparkling in a beam of sunlight, glowing faintly with its own inner purity, a beautiful blue Kyber Crystal, perfectly cut in one lovely hexagonal spar. It was no longer than his thumbnail, and there was no doing without it-- thank the Force that it had survived where so much else had failed. Obi-Wan sighed, and went back to his inventory of parts, so engrossed in his work that he was for once ignorant of any observer's eye.

Comments

[obi_wanmanshow]

"You're in fine company, then," He says, returning her smile with his own. For all her sarcasm, Morrigan was quite beautiful, when she smiled; it was difficult not to reciprocate, "No one here has, thus far. Not surprising, given the sheer volume of unique histories present. There's no one here from the Republic, as I know it."

It was beyond bizarre, but-- but not impossible. Theoretically, there had always been other worlds, other realities pressed up against one another like pages in a book, living layers of existence each with its own distinct truths, totally independent from one another. But that was just fantasy, the idle hypothesizing of the hyperspace technicians and theoretical scientific minds. He'd never given it much thought.

"If you like, I could answer any questions you have, since you're so free with your own expertise. Certainly I've done as much for the good Seeker, when she made her needs known."

Cassandra Pentaghast is, like so many natural forces, very loud, and nearly implacable.

[arcaneadvisor]

"We have seen the arrival of many from worlds beyond our own, and most believed that this world to be enough, more than enough in the case of those who fear the Fade, and they are rather more at present." All the more reason that her eluvian might prove vital because this is proof, that other possibilities exist that they hadn't accounted for at all. "You come to Thedas in turmoil, beyond our current crisis there is civil war in Orlais, and many still mourning the death of the Divine." For some reason, she thinks but she's never cared for any of the pious bleating.

Certainly the timing has meant that it's easier to get help to secure the eluvian and that her own avenues of research might receive more of the limited coin in the Inquisition coffers, if she truly cannot accomplish what she wants without aid.

"You did not escape her interrogations then? I am hardly surprised, I have heard of many carted off though you might count yourself fortunate you are not in a cell like another of your number. I like to think of myself as more reasonable." That's a lie, she's only reasonable when it suits her to be but on this occasion, it fortunately does. "I can wait to ask mine, and I expect you will have more that are of greater importance at present, lest you find yourself questioned yet again for whatever perceived slight or danger the Seeker finds."

[obi_wanmanshow]

"Fear is a path to hatred and poor judgement. My teacher, when I was a youngling, would always say that it was a path to the Dark Side," He opined, illustrating the point with a tilted hand, as if the foundations of the Inquisition lay on such an incline, and could slide off into the abyss with as little prompting, "The Seeker is afraid. She's lost people close to her-- this Divine included. And now she's being made to operate as a part of a leadership that seems to have no popular support, no clear direction or focus, no scapegoat for when things go wrong, nor anyone to take responsibility for the whole. Fertile ground for fearmongering."

He folded his arms again, and sighed. More or less reasonable, it didn't matter-- the situation was precarious. And more Rifters, more people would continue to join the Inquisition's cause, physically if not wholeheartedly. Eventually the population would reach a tipping point, possibly a violent one.

"I find the less immediate questions the hardest to answer, at least without bothering someone. Most seem to consider them common knowledge, and therefore they aren't written down, or at least not here. For example, the Circle of Magi. I've heard that term before, but what is, or was, the Circle?"

[arcaneadvisor]

"Yet that is what is used here; fear that should mages be allowed their freedom that we shall become a new dreaded Tevinter Imperium, that all of us will suddenly turn to blood magic and consort with demons, stealing the minds of rulers and burning as we go. Perhaps that is our dark side." There is certainly much of Tevinter that is to be mistrusted and reviled, but are men not capable of terrible deeds without magic in their veins? "You should know then that the Templars, they too are in something of a quandary – they were once the arm of the Chantry, yet their leader broke with them, some joined and no longer go by the name, others long for a return to the old ways, yet others again…well, they are very loud but unfocused in what it is that they want. Something new. Something better. People have always feared change and yet it happens, and is entirely necessary."

Not that new or better can be agreed upon, and not that they even go hand-in-hand. She looks to the past because Thedas is the serpent devouring itself, punctuated by Blights, by wars and invasions, by looking for signs of the new age. She sighs quietly, shaking her head. Barely recovered from a Blight and now this, and whatever is happening with the Wardens-- Well his question is a welcome distraction.

"The Circle of Magi were prisons for mages. For those who would allow others to hold their leash; taken as children, taught what the Chantry allows and watched. Always watched. Most Templars were stationed within the Circles though others outwith, and they would hunt down mages that escaped. Contact in almost all cases is cut off, they are not allowed to leave." The disdain is clear in her voice as she speaks, lip curling. "There are many loyalists you will find though they did vote for freedom in the end, but they would see all living just as they please."

And none of this is even touching the true abuses, what allowed for that vote, or annulments, or hunting people down.

[obi_wanmanshow]

"I've heard some talk of abominations, and possession. They were couched as a significant risk, for all mages," Obi-Wan cannot possibly judge for himself, but Morrigan's opinion is so different from what he's heard, so unmeasured, unqualified-- she makes no bones and her voice is as strident as it is acidic, "Demons, I have seen, of course."

Hard to fall out of a Rift and not, it would seem. He'll allow Morrigan to draw her own conclusions about the opinions he's been exposed to in this regard.

"Is the danger really as great as I've been led to believe?"

[arcaneadvisor]

"The Circle is a prison. They are taught to fear their abilities by the Chantry, punished for the crimes of Tevinter magisters centuries ago, tell me, how does one serve man when they are locked away all their lives, and what does learning to fear oneself do? Emotion can draw a demon and a mage has a greater ability to shape the Fade about them. I will guess that you have spoke to a Circle mage, perhaps even one of the councillors from the little Circle they have made within these walls." Let them call it what she is, she can guess at what Vivienne intends. "I have lived all my life as apostate within the Korcari Wilds, taught by my mother, an apostate herself, not once have I felt the urge to slit my wrists or use the blood of another to bend a mind to suit my whims or to draw the demons forth and let them in. Yet when I ventured within a Circle for the first time during the Blight what did I see? Abominations running rampant, Templars ready to slaughter each and every mage within."

Adelaide had turned cold when Morrigan voiced her opinion but she is unsurprised. People often mislike hearing the truth and yet it must be heard, she never asked for what Flemeth would tell her after all. "Tell me, did they speak of the Harrowing they put young mages through - if they do not make them Tranquil first? It involves demons. And a Templar waiting with a sword should they fail. Allow another to hold your leash and one day you will surely follow in the footsteps of the elves."