Hawke (there_was_this) wrote in saveatlantisic, @ 2017-01-30 18:51:00 |
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Entry tags: | !log, *charlie, alicia spinnet, marian hawke |
The place, for all it’s oddities, wasn’t too terrible. The weather could certainly approve, but it wasn’t anything that an abundance of scarves and jackets couldn’t cover. The fact that it had hot water at a touch, and several other commodities was just something that spoke even higher for it. She knew she shouldn’t complain, but she still did.
Mostly, she missed Anders and the rest of her family. She would see this through, because she couldn’t just walk away from it all, but she still missed them. It wasn’t something she often complained about ,and when she did it was mostly privately and when it got too bad she grabbed Dane and went for walks. And seeing Dane liked having long walks, and lots of time to play it wasn’t like the dog would ever mind when she needed to clear her head. And unlike her, he never minded the cold. Another advantage was the lack of random bandits or demons popping up wherever she walked. She no longer had reason to constantly wear her armor, nor carry her sword everywhere she went. Kirkwall’s old habits though, hadn’t completely left her. She never relaxed fully, and there was a dagger within reach at any given time, plus she was teaching Dane the skills Malcolm had had. Knowing the dog could look after himself if needed was something she needed for her own piece of mind, but it wasn’t something she filled her day with. Mostly it was throwing sticks in an attempt to wear Dane’s almost unlimited energy out. When the stick left her hand she turned to see the other figure, and smiled when Hawke recognized her. She raised her hand in greeting before calling Dane over and having him sit. The dog could get a little excited in wanting to greet people, so she was training him to be still until the people decided they wanted a few dozen pounds of excited dog all over them. ---- The last mission was just freaking weird. Hold that, really weird. She was pretty sure her team was bloody nuts as well but she wasn’t going to focus too much on that. Truthfully Alicia was hoping that the powers that be would give them a little bit more set teams to start training and working together rather than the freaking random drawing sort of thing. She did gather that quests sort of made that one difficult. The worst part of missions was leaving Scuba behind. Luckily Katie had been staying back this mission so she knew her silly pup was well taken care of and had play time with Katie’s dog all the time. It was good to be outside and for a moment not worry about giants or moving walls or water traps or any of the other strange things the last mission had. She and Scuba were just walking slowly when she caught sight of someone she worked with on the first mission. Snapping her fingers with a point Scuba dropped into walking right beside her. “Hey!” She said smiling. “I see we had the same idea, get some air and get dogs tired huh?” She said grinning to the much larger dog than Scuba (Scuba was only 40 pounds after all). ---- "Seems like," Hawke gave with a smile, before offering the smaller dog her hand. "Hi baby. You're adorable. What's this breed called?" A different sort of advantage was having so many dog breeds. Thedas had other dogs, mostly farm animals, but the Mabari was the most common one. At least in Fereldan. Maker only knew what the Orlesians were breeding. She'd never really lamented the lack of variety, not until now. She used her other hand to motion to the husky at her feet. "This is Dane. He's pretty good around other dogs, and people. Get's a little excited though." Smiling she scratched the dog's ears. "But he's being a good boy right now." She smiled to the dog, because mostly she could, before looking back at Alicia. "So, how did the latest weirdness go?" Never let it be said she couldn't be surprised anymore. Who'd ever have thought that 'physically walking into the Fade' was getting lower and lower on her weirdness scale? She could only imagine the last mission had been just as odd, and certainly odder, than the one where the animals had been talking. "However much you can say about it of course." Hawke was one of the active agents, but she knew that because she'd stayed home not everything could be shared. It was something she'd keep to until the secrets got dangerous. ---- “Mostly I call her mutt. But she’s some sort of sheltie, aussie mix.” Alicia told her. “Silly little thing. He’s named Scuba.” Alicia reached down to pet Dane. “Hey there!” She said smiling. “Feel like playing? Scuba loves a good play.” She said nodding to her dog before looking back up at Hawke. “Well, we accomplished what we needed to, which is good. But between the weird dreams and battling giants, monsters and others I can’t say it made a lot of sense.” Alicia commented. “Guess we now know some gods are real.” Alicia said shaking her head. ---- Once Dane got pet, he got up from where he’d sat to wag his tail happily at Alicia as well as both liking and sniffing her hand. “I think the answer to play is always yes.” Already Dane was sniffing around the other dog, obviously happy for the added company. Shaking her head she threw the stick again, this time fairly sure the two dogs would keep themselves occupied with it. “Cute name. Cute dog.” She didn’t really know what either a sheltie or an aussie was, but it obviously made for cute dog. Then she made a face. Bad enough, for her, knowing she’d walked the Fade physically considering the last time anyone had done that they’d brought the Blight with them. The spirit or ghost of the Divine hadn’t bothered her too much, too long accustomed to having spirits appear near everywhere but if it had been Andraste, or some representation of the Maker she would have been a lot more unsettled. It’d be similar if she’d encountered any of the Elven gods, but less as she wasn’t Dalish. “Well. That’s a lovely thought. I like my gods to be as theoretical as possible. Did any of you guys have...visitors.” She frowned, unsure of how to really explain this. Instead she just reached to her head and tapped her temple. “Here. Something possessed me. That was fun.” Her tone sarcastic. ---- Alicia laughed watching the two dogs take off and start playing. She nodded. “Looks like they’re having fun.” She said with a grin. “It was a weird trip, even weirder than Narnia, meeting greek gods never was really something that would be on my to do list, or learn how the norse gods and the greek gods somehow are all around in the same place. Guess it does make sense logically, but it’s still a bit mad if you ask me.” “You were what? Who possessed you? I saw something about Cupid being in someone. Katie and Tony Stark, weird match up if you ask me.” Alicia didn’t add that being in his body was even weirder. ---- “I think that I envy dogs in the ability to have joy and excitement in near everything.” She offered and crossed her arms. “Might make sense if all things exist in the same place. Different people, different Gods.” She shrugged. “Where I’m from the elves have different Gods, always made sense that both they and the Maker could, or could not, exist at the same time. Not something the Chantry will speak about but, well The Chantry’s a mess at the best of times.” “She called herself Nike. Big on competitions and victory. Everything could be a contest, and everything could be subject to being won. She took control for a bit, and basically set up a betting pool and sort of competition with something called laser guns with someone else.” She hadn’t caught the name of the guy behind the other side. She didn’t recognize the other name either so she couldn’t offer any sort of opinion there. “I think weird trips might be the norm here. Preparing for the unexpected is going to be tricky, especially if we’re never sure if we might get possessed or have weird things happen to us. Figure they might look into fixing that, before the other side takes notice and starts taking advantage.” ---- “It’s weird thinking about gods and different gods and the danger if they all got really angry at each other…” Alicia commented as she took in what Hawke was saying about her own gods and the elves gods. “Greek goddess of Victory I believe yeah?” Alicia said excited that she even remembered that. “You learn a lot of weird knowledge when you’re out and about in other words I suppose.” She added. “That, and I think it was covered in some class in school. But hey, that sounds like fun! At least!” “Tell me about it, it’s impossible to be completely ready for the stuff here. For all we know we might all end up with wings, or turn into animals, or have cravings for muffins none stop.” ---- She thought about that, and in the context that she could put it which was mostly spirits and their like. "Seems likely if they're all existing the same place, rules are made on what they can and can't break. No real joy in ruling ashes," unless you counted Corypheus and the Nightmare demon, but honestly those two hadn't had the wits the Maker had granted ants so they didn't count. "Besides, if you break enough of your people, soon enough they'll figure out a way to kick you off your mountains. Even gods aren't invincible." She sighed, "I don't know. I didn't enjoy her company." The joy of learning was somewhat hampered with knowing that it could just as easily be turned against her. "I'm starting to think Thedas is very different from most places. These gods aren't familiar to me. And would have been more fun if I'd been in charge." It made her appreciate Ander's situation a bit more though. Parts of her were curious what he would have made of it all, but she could have used the guidance. "Next mission I'm bringing it up to the higher ups. I don't mind helping, fate of the world and all that but if we're going to be any sort of useful we need to not be distracted by the random nonsense that keeps happening. Maybe they don't know it keeps happening, maybe they do. Or it's the other side but if you want to kill creativity that seems unlikely. ---- Alicia nodded at her thoughts on gods, she didn’t really know what she believed anymore so stayed a little quiet on it. “I don’t blame you. I don’t think I’d really want to have a god hanging out with me either. Or well, in me.” She said tilting her head. “I don’t really know how much control Admiral P and company actually has over some of the things that are happening. I think a lot of it could be because of the different worlds we get sent to and are trying to save, their things seep into this world and hell maybe some of the COS agents are doing it in an attempt to turn people to their side. But, who really knows yeah?” ---- She gave a thoughtful sound and considered all that. With all that had been happening it was unlikely that the higher ups didn’t know about the various mishaps occurring. Unless they were just willingly blind, which wasn’t really that far fetched. Kirkwall’s Divine had been that way. “I don’t know enough about magic. Might be something to look into. If it is the other side, might be good to find a way around it. If it’s just so many different people from so many different places interacting and causing mayhem, it should at least be a curiosity.” “But you’re right. Who even knows.” She didn’t, she was grasping at straws. She shook her head. “What’s your world like? You’ve got magic, that much I know. Do you have Circles?” She paused knowing that wouldn’t exactly be a known thing in other worlds. “Places of learning.” She very much hoped not every place was like the Circles she’d heard about. Otherwise she’d be tempted to have talks with other worlds, which wasn’t even possible as far as she knew. ---- “Think about all the different realities living in one place. I don’t know exactly what kind of magic or technology could be built to deal with trying to take away the side effects.” Alicia said shrugging. “I’d guess it is, but don’t really know? There are loads of unanswered questions.” Alicia agreed. “Do we have circles? What are circles?” She asked taking the change in topic. “I went to a school called Hogwarts and my mate Harry Potter had a bunch of books written about him, which is how my creative world came to be… but really, what are circles?” ---- That part was trickier to explain, at least not without going into the various politics of Thedas. But Alicia had asked. “I know them only from the outside. But just in case we’re ever sent to my world you should know. Tell your other friends too. I’ll tear each and every one of them down to get you out but you should know what they are.” “On the outside they’re a place for learning. Where I’m from, magic is dangerous. We have a place called the Fade. It’s where we go when we dream. There’s things that live in the Fade, and most of them are demons. People without magic don’t get them often, but mage’s do. And the demons will tempt the mages. Offer them power, protection. Things a young mage might want. At least that’s what the Chantry says. That’s what we call the organization for our faith.” She sighed. “Mages tend to show their magic in impressive displays. My father never said what his was, but Beth froze our room over. Anders set a barn on fire. And magic is feared in Thedas, both through religious means and because what you don’t know frightens you. Especially when a powerful organization like the chantry says it’s a one way ticket to doom and destruction. And so they send you to a Circle. Usually places in remote areas, far away from people and usually placed so mages can’t get out. Once you’re in a Circle, you’re not supposed to leave you see. And then you’re watched by Templars. These are people capable of nullifying magic and usually take advantage of their position of power. Even worse, they hang something called Tranquility over you. What that is, they take you and cut your soul out. It’s how I can best describe it. Your emotions get cut off, you lose magic and you don’t do anything save take orders. I saw a lot of Tranquil in Kirkwall, and it’s a living death. They said it couldn’t be cured but it can.” She took a breath. “Circles are terrible places. My father managed to escape from one, so did Anders. If we’re ever send to Thedas I’ll make sure you and your friends, and whoever else has magic, knows what to look for and how to avoid them. I won’t see anyone send to one.” She meant that. She knew only a few here who had magic, but she’d never want to see the sun brand of a Tranquil on any of their foreheads. ---- Alicia smiled. "Likewise, if we ever end up in my world, there is some dangerous stuff there too." There was no need to elaborate though as Alicia listened to what Hawke had to say. "I think Magic can be dangerous in any world. All about how you use them." Alicia raised an eyebrow as she listened. It was a lot of information. "So, note to self, don't get my soul cut out, don't get trapped in a circle." Alicia nodded again. "Guess every world we may or may not go to will have its own brand of danger. But, hey at least if we go somewhere that one of us is actually from we'll be able to give more insight rather than diving in blind so to speak. There is no way anyone can know every world, well, unless Hermione shows up, she might read every single thing possible." Alicia waved a hand. "Friend from my world, stupidly smart, a little bit of a know-it-all but a really good person." ---- She hadn't meant to go on like that, but it was a fear of hers. Her father had never spoken about his time in the Circle, and when she'd learned about Anders' experiences it had spoken enough volumes along with the fact of how much he'd feared for Beth when she showed her magic. And Kirkwall had gotten to her. She'd seen so many mages with that damned brand, she'd fight until her last to never see it happen again. Knowing it could be reversed, and no one had bothered only added to it. And having a revolutionary for a partner had rubbed off. She wished she could have helped more. "My sword's dangerous. Any weapon is. You don't fear your magic though." She gave a long sigh and shrugged. "It's a personal thing. I may never have to worry about a Circle, or a brand, but people I love do. But you're right. Any world has danger." She chuckled to that. "Worse things to be. I'd disagree with the methods though. Books are biased. The writer's opinions always colour them." She smirked, "I know. I had one written about me. Varric, my friend, coloured it a lot with his own take on things. And I love him to death, but he's shit at describing anything. Even made my sister's chest bigger, the ass." She still smiled though. Varric was her first, and dearest friend. "He's part of why I stay. He writes. It'd kill him to have his creativity die." ---- "Some people fear their own magic. In general, it's looked at in good light, but like anything, it can be turned dark. I guess that's just not something I've ever worried about for myself." Alicia said with a small shrug. Alicia smirked at the comment about books. "Luckily, from where I'm at there is no book about me and I only am in very small parts of the books written about Harry, although I'd have to say they got him down pretty well." She admitted. "That's a good reason to stay, for people back home that it means the world to them." ---- She could understand a little. In parts, she feared what magic could do. Blood magic had killed her mother, so she knew it was a magic she’d never trust or even not fear. “Good, don’t. You got a good head on your shoulders and I’ve seen you at work. You’re good.” “Has to be a bit odd. Know it is for me. And I think so.” ---- "Likewise," Alicia said with a smirk. She never was good with compliments like that. Usually, she was better with jokes. "Hey, let's go get a drink." Alicia suggested as Scuba bounded over to her. |