faderift | { OPEN } May there always be angels to watch over you

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{ OPEN } May there always be angels to watch over you

WHO: Christine Delacroix and OPEN!
WHAT: She's getting used to being a Spirit Healer and having a friend on the other side.
WHEN: any time after Drakonis 17th until month's end.
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: Christine has a spirit of Faith in communication with her. It will be observing the world around her and asking her questions. If your character is having a crisis of faith, doubts, etc. Faith may nudge Christine towards your character to see if she can be of help, but she won't know what exactly is the matter without your character telling her. Also, Faith will just be really curious in general. Have your character dance a jig, lose at cards, mend a shirt, whatever, and Faith will be wanting to know more.

{ anywhere }
When she thinks back on it, Christine knows that the reason the spirit of Faith approached her in the Fade is because Christine had visited the chapel before her test, trying to erase her doubts. But it was having doubt that caught Faith's attention and cemented their relationship. It's hard for a perfectionist like her to admit that there are times when she isn't sure of herself because it's admitting to weakness. Yet already Faith is changing her perceptions. There can be no faith without doubt. If Christine was perfect in every way, she wouldn't need a spirit to help with her ability to heal. Faith is needed, because doubt is inevitable. Questioning things, missteps, complications -- Faith is drawn to it all, and as Christine sticks to her daily routine around Skyhold, she often feels the gentle nudge of her spirit companion against her mind, sending her towards a person.

Of course, Faith doesn't always use words and simply say why it's guiding Christine towards a person. Is it because they no longer believe in the Maker, or because Faith wants to know what they're doing with that rope, tankard, and a duck?

{ kitchens }
With the soiree over, Christine can head back into the kitchens to practice her cooking once more without Skyhold's cooking staff at their wit's end trying to get all the food prepared in time. Some days she makes bread, others she makes pie. Others still it's something completely different, but if anyone comes in looking for a snack, she invites them to be her taste tester.

{ healers' tents }
Just because she's now a Spirit Healer doesn't mean Christine is going to request the help of Faith for every little scrape and cut. The point is to use the spirit's power for much more complicated wounds, to save the healer's mana. So there are no glowing blue eyes to be found as Christine sees to patients. When the rifters arrive, she's available to use healing magic to lessen the ache in their hands until they get used to the shard, and is happy to fill them in on the world they've been dropped into. For anyone else, she's there to heal them with magic or bandages; whichever they'd prefer.

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"I'd be glad to demonstrate any time, even after this pie." Not that it takes much for Korrin to show off her hard-earned skills, but she'd totally consider the baking experiment a good trade. "The way Vivienne described it was you drawing back the energy released by your enemies in your attacks against them. So the more damage you do, the more powerful the barrier grows. That would definitely keep other enemies at bay long enough to deal with them at your own pace."

She pauses in her pie-picking and smiles at mention of the rifter girl. "Hermione's a very capable person, and I got to see some of that when there as well. She also has a zeal for equality and freedom that I find very refreshing. I do feel a little guilty for horrifying her with how much Thedas lacks both of those, but then again, it was needed information...and it seems to have cemented that resolve to help however she can. Adelaide is lucky to have her as an assistant."

Christine nods seriously. That all sounds well and good, but there was one sticking point. "Does anyone else besides Vivienne teach this discipline?" Call it an unfair bias, but she simply doesn't like Vivienne and the way she works. Everything about the Game makes her grit her teeth. The fact that Madame de Fer swanned off to her own apartments while charming the court, while the Templars said no one would want a mage healing them and Christine was to stay in the Tower will forever be a sore point. She shouldn't have had to play the Game, or had opened herself up to an even closer watch by the Templars by becoming a Spirit Healer under the Circle system. She had passed her Harrowing. She had proven herself. And yet she still wasn't trusted.

"I confess, the more I hear of other worlds, the more I wish Thedas could be like them. But then again, they might have their own unique problems too."

"There is one other woman that I know of, an elf named Helaine. She's...intense...but dedicated, as far as I've seen. If I'd known about her earlier, I might have gone to her instead. But I admit, I liked the challenge of getting Vivienne to teach me. A Loyalist Circle mage, teaching an apostate? It tickles me a bit.

...don't tell her that." Vivienne probably already knows, but no need to rub it in.

She takes another bite of pie before continuing. "I'm sure you're right, about other worlds. Nowhere can be perfect. Even if they don't have Blights and whatnot, their warts are just in other places."

Her lips curve in a smile, remembering something. "You attended the soiree with a rifter, didn't you? Are you close?"

Christine exhales a laugh, but nods all the same. Even if Vivienne does know, Christine isn't going to tell her.

Korrin's question leaves Christine screwing up her face; not in a distasteful way, but in a way that seems to say she doesn't really know.

"It is hard to say. I find him funny, and he is harmless enough, but he really can be so odd, and he never thinks things through before saying them. That said, I did have a nice enough evening, once I stressed the important of the occasion and that he not do anything embarrassing." And the night ended with him in her tent, but Christine doesn't kiss and tell.

That description of Church sounds very apt, and Korrin chuckles. "I haven't talked to him much lately, but he was entertaining enough when I did earlier. I imagine he managed through the night, with you as a good influence." She gets up to pour some water, needing it after that snack. "It never hurts to find enjoyment where you can, when you can. We're allowed so little that we don't grab for ourselves, especially lately.

...I hope it's not too personal to ask about that, but since you asked me, I wanted to know your thoughts on such things. Rifters and natives. There aren't many people I think could quite understand, even if they were sympathetic."

Ah, well Christine isn't going to lie about this sort of thing, but she doesn't want to sound like she's judging Korrin either.

"For me, personally, I cannot see a future with a rifter. There is too much about the shards that is still unknown, as is how they arrived in the first place. I won't begrudge you your happiness, Korrin. It is clear Araceli makes you happy and I like her very much, but I still wonder if they won't suddenly be sent back the way they came." She frowns and takes her plate over to the counter. "I do not mean to sound harsh. Truly. But I do not have the feelings for Church that you do for Araceli."

Christine's unvarnished opinion is exactly what Korrin's looking for, so she's relieved to get it. She shakes her head, quick to reassure. It was her that did the asking, after all.

"That's probably for the best, given what could happen. You've said nothing I haven't thought to myself, at some point or other. It's a fate I don't relish at all, though I know Araceli misses her homeland dearly. Call me selfish, but I'm hoping she'll find a good life here, with me. But we'll see what happens. Something tells me we won't get any answers on that end until we defeat Corypheus."

"She spoke to me of her home," Christine says. "Of how she ran across the rooftops as the streets are so narrow. And there are canals and bridges everywhere. We commiserated on how our homes both border water, though with Velun, it is only the lake on one side."

Korrin's probably not wrong about how long it will take to find answers. "As he is the one who created the Breach, I suppose we shall learn more once he is gone and such information as to how he did it is laid bare."

"Exactly. We just have to stop his demon army, save Orlais and take that orb from him. No pressure, huh?" Korrin smirks briefly, noting that it's not so simple but a little frustrated with their pace. Corypheus isn't going to politely wait for them to catch up, after all.

"That's partly why I've decided to study rift magic. There's so little we know, and it deserves study; maybe through that we'll gain more. And now that Solas is back, perhaps I can learn from someone who remembers their own name." Nothing against Your Trainer, but it's unnerving what happened to her, and how she is now. Korrin would rather not lose that much of herself, or any part.

Christine thinks that's as good a plan as any, and she nods firmly.

"You will let me know what you discover? And in the meantime, we can practice our combat spells together."

"Of course, to both. I won't lie, I'm hoping that studying rift magic will lead toward helping the shardbearers, somehow. If there's a way to prevent those shards from endangering them, then I have to help find it. Maybe there'll even be a way to remove them, though I know that's a long shot at best." No one understands that kind of magic and even with a crash course, there's still a lot they don't know and have yet to truly understand.

"It could. You never know unless you try. It think that is a very good reason to study such a phenomenon, Korrin, and I wish you much success at it." She knows that it would lift some of the worry about Araceli's future off Korrin's shoulders.

"Thank you. Maybe it'll encourage others to take it up, too. Cooperation could accomplish a lot more than me or Your Trainer messing around on our own. Or Solas, now that he's back." She relaxes a little, at that. "If there's anyone who knows what he's doing when it comes to that stuff, and the shards, it's him. He'd better stay put this, time."

"The rifters may find some answers as to their circumstances, now that he is back." Surely he'll wish to ask them questions and study their hands. When the rifters arrived, all Christine could do was ease the pain in their palms.

"Well, I am going to clean up a little and head back to work."

Straightening, Korrin just shrugs."Eh, leave most of it to me. I don't have anywhere to be for a while, now that I'm done with training for the day. Besides, it's a fair trade for the pie break." And she does try to clean up after herself, anyway, so a little extra isn't going to hurt anything.

"Korrin, you are a treasure," Christine says, setting the kitchen towel she's just retrieved back down. "Let no one tell you otherwise."

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{ OPEN } May there always be angels to watch over you

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