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Dar Prethan (UtR) ([info]shiftlinggirl) wrote in [info]utr_logs,
@ 2011-08-31 09:30:00

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Entry tags:aedan surana, dar prethan

Who: Dar Prethan and Aedan Surana
What: Taking a break
Where: Somewhere in the middle of nowhere
Warnings: None

Dar, in her rat form, waited near the Portkey. She knew from previous experiments that they worked just as well no matter what shape she was wearing, which was convenient, especially when she didn't want to get caught doing something. Granted, Morrigan knew what she looked like as a rat and possibly as a falcon as well, and her only other form would be instantly identifiable as suspicious to anyone from Fereldan, but at least as a rat she was small and less conspicuous. Dar had a lifelong habit of trying to be inconspicuous, especially when she was somewhere she wasn't exactly supposed to be. It wasn't really necessary anymore, but the habit remained. And she might as well wait for Aedan in rat form as any other.


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[info]urthemielssoul
2011-08-31 08:40 am UTC (link)
Morrigan had seemed slightly distracted when Aedan had left the cottage, and he intended to take advantage of that. He'd made some excuse about wanting to test out a few of his more familiar forms, not entirely sure if she was listening, and left, shifting into a wolf the moment he was out the door.

He knew the woods better in this form, and it was less conspicuous at times. Catching sight of the rat as he approached the portkey, he shifted back to his human form. "I really hope I'm not talking to a regular old rat. That'd be embarrassing even for me..."

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[info]shiftlinggirl
2011-08-31 12:23 pm UTC (link)
Dar was laughing as she turned back into herself. "Not to me, it wouldn't," she said cheerfully. "I spent a lot of time growing up trying to talk to rats. Though I could teach you a trick that might help you identify if someone actually is a shapeshifter pretending to be a rat, or whatever, if you like."

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[info]urthemielssoul
2011-08-31 06:25 pm UTC (link)
"That could actually be really useful..." at the moment, Aedan just ran off his senses, and he tended to be able to figure out if given enough time, but it'd be nice to get a more reliable technique. "It could save me a lot of trouble. I really only know how to recognise mother's forms..."

He did have to wonder. Were all shapeshifters obvious if you looked at them in the right way?

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[info]shiftlinggirl
2011-08-31 07:35 pm UTC (link)
"It has to do with smell," Dar said. "Smells linger. Had you noticed that other wolves can tell you're not really one? I think it's because they can smell...well, things that you have no business smelling like, if you really were a wolf." She stretched her hands above her head. "So if I'm in bird form but smell like sewers, other animals can tell that something is strange about me." Her grin turned sheepish. "I got caught that way, once. It doesn't always work, of course, it depends on where and what you've been. But it's something. And it's something to be wary of if you're trying not to be noticed."

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[info]urthemielssoul
2011-08-31 09:16 pm UTC (link)
"So, if you're going to shift into a wolf and try to blend in with them, you should... do wolf things beforehand so you smell like them?" it wasn't a flawless idea, but it made sense, at least to him. "I don't think I've ever run with a real wolf pack. I need to get out more."

If it wasn't for his mother, he'd likely go out further than the woods, but he knew she'd likely come after him and drag him back, cursing his stupidity all the while. "We should move before anyone realises we're here. The clearing I picked out isn't too far away."

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[info]shiftlinggirl
2011-09-01 10:29 pm UTC (link)
"Not exactly. And you're probably fine anyway, you've been living in the woods and smells here are all going to be...well, woodsy. It's more something to keep in mind if you're moving from one environment to another. Or to keep in mind for when you get back. You might want to roll in something or run through a cold stream, or at elast find some way to keep your mother in human form, for a while after you got back, or else she might smell that you were near an elf. That sort of thing. But you might be able to pick out another shapeshifter that way yourself, if you ever run across one." She looked briefly wistful. "I've never run with a wolf-pack either. I wonder what it's like?"

Dar flushed slightly. "Oh! Yes, we should. Sorry, I don't get many chances to talk about...well, any of this, so I get distracted when I can. Which way? Is it walking distance?"

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[info]urthemielssoul
2011-09-01 11:06 pm UTC (link)
Aedan smiled. The enthusiasm was endearing, to be honest... he was used to only discussing such things with his mother, and enthusiasm just wasn't something she was often capable of. "My father's an elf. She'd just assume I was with him."

"It's this way, not far," he pointed off in a direction away from the cottage. It was out of the usual range for him, but he'd checked it out beforehand and it'd seemed fine. "It'd be quicker if we shifted, probably. It's how I get around the woods most of the time."

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[info]shiftlinggirl
2011-09-01 11:45 pm UTC (link)
In answer, Dar shifted into her mabari form and wagged her short, stubby tail, tongue lolling in canine amusement.

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[info]urthemielssoul
2011-09-02 12:13 am UTC (link)
Aedan couldn't help but laugh, shifting into his wolf form. He led the way to a clearing a short distance away - for these woods, it was fairly open, but the trees gave just enough cover from above to hopefully keep them hidden.

Once they were there, and he was certain they hadn't been followed, he shifted back to his human form. "It's... not the best place, but it's safer than staying where mother can find us."

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[info]shiftlinggirl
2011-09-02 12:56 pm UTC (link)
Dar shifted as well, and happily flopped on her back in the grass. It was still a pleasure to her to be anywhere with space and open air, even if she hadn't been back to the city for a while. "It's nice," she reassured him, looking up at the sun breaking through the leaves. "It's a good forest, this one." She smiled up at him. "Your father's an elf, you said? Is he a mage too?"

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[info]urthemielssoul
2011-09-02 05:50 pm UTC (link)
Aedan nodded. "He's a battle mage - you know, the ones that normally use swords and shields instead of just a staff." It made sense to him. Hiding behind a sturdy piece of metal probably offered better protection than any staff, no matter how you enchanted it. "He's the source of most of the things I know about Ferelden. Even if I think he's exaggerating his exploits half the time."

It was either that, or Ferelden was more prone to sudden bursts of darkspawn than seemed logically possible. Then again, he had been Warden-Commander, so maybe it made sense. "Guess that's half the problem of having a Warden for a father."

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[info]shiftlinggirl
2011-09-02 07:20 pm UTC (link)
"An elven Grey Warden..." Dar frowned in thought. "Is your father's name Alim? I've met him, he helped me understand what was going on when I first arrived here." Which reminded her, she never had gotten Alim to show her examples of elven poetry, even if it was terrible elven poetry. And then she connected something else Aedan had told her long ago. "Wait, so Alim is the Warden? He didn't mention that when I met him." She chuckled. "Though I guess you wouldn't. 'Hello, I'm the Hero of Ferelden' isn't an easy thing to slip in to most conversations. He didn't seem the type to exagerrate, though."

She sat up and stretched. "I've met some battle mages. They tried to teach me a few tricks but I really wasn't any good at it, I'm afraid." Dar shrugged. "Can't do everything, I guess." She smiled at Aedan. "What do you know how to do, aside from shapeshifting? Or including shapeshifting!" It had been her job to find apostates, learn from them, spread knowledge wherever she could. It wasn't really necessary now, but she was still curious. Besides, that was how she'd learned all she knew, and chances to learn were always worth taking.

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[info]urthemielssoul
2011-09-02 08:06 pm UTC (link)
Oh, Dar clearly caught on fast. Aedan had to admit, he liked that. "That's right. He's Alim Surana, the Hero of Ferelden, Warden-Commander for a time. He probably has a lot of other strange titles too," including, if you listened to certain people, 'Biggest Idiot This Side of the Kokari Wilds'. "He doesn't tend to let people know. Once people find out he's the Warden, people start... treating him differently. He always says he doesn't like it."

And to be honest, he couldn't blame him for that. Being an elf and a mage and suddenly being treated so differently was probably quite the shock to the system.

"Let's see..." he sat down on the grass, resting his chin on his hand. "Elemental magic is easy for me, comes with the dragon. I know bits and pieces of healing magic, few hexes... father tried to teach me that technique arcane warriors use, the one where they slip partially into the Fade." Or something like that, it'd been a long time ago. It'd certainly come in handy when he'd had to contain himself after arriving here. "And as for shapeshifting... I've not got many forms. That wolf, a bear, a falcon and the dragon. And the dragon's not really something I learnt."

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[info]shiftlinggirl
2011-09-03 02:07 am UTC (link)
Dar half-smiled. "It's so strange. The Hero where I come frome died, fighting the Archdemon. The idea that I traveled from another world, that I can get used to. The idea that there are other places like my world where things happened differently, that's harder. Was there a Dar in the world you and Alim come from? Or versions of your father and you where I come from, only different? I can't help but wonder." This happened every time she talked to Aedan. She still didn't know if it was just that he knew about so many things she'd never thought of, or if it was Aedan himself, but he had a knack for making her think about things she wouldn't have considered. It was one reason she liked talking to him so much.

"You're ahead of me, from the sound of it. I can only change into a rat, a mabari, and a falcon. Though I'm working on another. Hence all the horses." Dar blew a stray lock of hair out of her face, looking rueful. "I'd forgotten how much time it takes. I've been studying them for weeks. But if you can turn into a falcon too, we should go flying together sometime, if you like. It'd be nice to do that with company for once." She hesitated, but asked. "Can I ask about the dragon thing? Or does everyone ask about the dragon thing?"

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[info]urthemielssoul
2011-09-03 03:43 pm UTC (link)
Aedan shrugged. "I... really only happen in worlds where my mother and the Warden get involved, I think, which means I probably don't exist in your world." The Warden in Dar's world had obviously turned down the offer of the Ritual, despite everything, if they'd managed to die. "My father's always a member of the Circle, he just doesn't get caught up with the blood mage that led the Wardens to notice him in other worlds."

Try as he might, he couldn't imagine his father staying in the Circle forever. Every time he mentioned it to him, he ended up telling him about the numerous escape attempts and how Duncan had essentially saved him from a life of misery and possible Tranquillity. "You're probably around all the same. I don't think there's much different between our worlds, aside from the different Wardens."

He couldn't help a little smile. Considering this was a new world, and it'd probably stay just between them, it was probably safe to tell her. "The dragon thing... it's down to the Ritual that saved my father's life. I was conceived on the eve of the Battle of Denerim, and the Ritual... it pulled the soul of the Archdemon into me instead of it going through my father and killing him." This probably sounded insane, didn't it? "It was purified, and... just over twenty years later, here I am. An Old God in human form. Don't worry about it, though, I'm pretty much harmless."

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[info]shiftlinggirl
2011-09-03 09:24 pm UTC (link)
Dar took a long time to digest this idea. It didn't occur to her to doubt him; it took a number of curious things Aedan had said to her since they met and fit them together. It was honestly hard to know how to respond, though. She had a vague urge to apologize for having believed Old Gods were mythological, which was just strange. "I'm not afraid of you at all," she said finally. "Whatever else you are, you're a good and thoughtful person. That's more important than the rest, I think." She smiled slowly, curious about something. "So then, do you sing?"

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[info]urthemielssoul
2011-09-03 09:45 pm UTC (link)
"I'm terrible at singing, personally," Aedan admitted, rubbing at the back of his neck. "It isn't something Old Gods do consciously, I think. We sang when we were trapped beneath ground, and that's what attracts the darkspawn, but I don't know if I do it here... not really any way to tell, considering there's none of them around."

True, there were other ways of finding out, but the only ones he knew involved Wardens that were experiencing the Calling, and he was pretty sure his father had a good while left until that started affecting him.

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[info]shiftlinggirl
2011-09-04 02:05 am UTC (link)
"It's probably not singing as we would understand it," Dar said. She was still thinking through the idea. "So the dragon is connected to the Old God part of you, then, and that's why it's so hard to control. Not like regular shapeshifting at all." She tilted her head. "Or is it? It sounds like it's...well, the reverse. Usually I have to focuson whatever form I want to become. It sounds like for you the dragon is as much your natural form as this one is, and that's why when you lose control you slip into it. Something like that?"

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[info]urthemielssoul
2011-09-04 02:22 am UTC (link)
Aedan had honestly never thought of it that way. He knew that shapeshifters didn't typically have to fight off shifting the way he did, and that a lot more thought was involved in consciously shifting than in the sometimes-accidental shifts into his dragon form. "I know that Old Gods are usually only dragons, so... that makes sense, in a way. I'm just hoping there isn't a way for me to somehow get permanently stuck as a dragon."

Yes, the Old Gods had managed it, but they'd been stuck underground forevermore. On the surface, people tended to react pretty badly to dragons... unless they were crazy like a certain other elf girl he knew, apparently.

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[info]shiftlinggirl
2011-09-04 02:31 am UTC (link)
"That doesn't seem likely," Dar said at once. "When you are a dragon, you're still you, yes? You have Aedan-thoughts, not dragony or Old God ones, whatever those would be, right?"

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[info]urthemielssoul
2011-09-04 02:35 am UTC (link)
"That depends on why I end up shifting," it was a subject Aedan didn't fully understand himself, and bringing it up with Morrigan wouldn't clear anything up. "If it's by accident, my thoughts tend to be... a little on the violent side? It might be a self-defence thing, but I just feel like I want to level the area..." Thankfully, he'd only done that the once, and that'd been the very first time he'd shifted. "Rest of the time, I'm the same as ever. Just in a much bigger and more dragon-y body."

"I think it means that somewhere in here," he tapped at his temple for emphasis. "Somewhere way back, there's some part of the Archdemon left. Not enough to turn me into it, but enough to play havoc with my thoughts sometimes."

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[info]shiftlinggirl
2011-09-04 03:54 am UTC (link)
Dar nodded. "That still makes sense. Most people when they're confused or uncertain want to lash out at things." Well, she didn't, she definitely had flight instincts instead of fight ones. But in general the idea seemed to apply. "It might not even be an Archdemon thing, just a discombobulated not-used-to-this-form thing combined with..." She struggled for words, making some odd hand gestures in the air as though she were physically groping for them. "Well, with whatever emotion distracted you so much that you lost control. So the combination overwhelms you for a while."

Dar sighed. "I'm not trying to make light of this. Maybe there is some dangerous ghost of the Archdemon in the back of your mind. I just, I wonder how much of it is your own fear and frustration getting the better of you. It's so hard to tell."

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[info]urthemielssoul
2011-09-04 04:05 am UTC (link)
For someone who'd never experience something like this, Dar seemed to have a pretty good grasp of things. Far better than Aedan did at times, in all honesty. "I think a lot of it's still down to fear... I've not actually been aware of what I am for very long. Couple of months, not even close to enough time to understand everything," it was strangely hard to admit that. He'd been raised as a sort of weapon, not as someone to fear simple things like that.

"I was raised completely unaware of the Old God part of myself. For all I knew, my parents just wanted me strong in case anyone decided to attack us..."

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[info]shiftlinggirl
2011-09-04 04:17 am UTC (link)
"Oh, Aedan, I'm sorry." Dar reached out and squeezed his hand briefly. "No wonder it's all so overwhelming, then, if it's still that new. So is that what you're doing out here, then? Trying to get used to it somewhere where you don't have the added worry about frightening anyone?" She could see the wisdom of that, but she wasn't sure it'd be enough, and it worried her. Self-control when you were alone was one thing. Self-control when other people were around, with all their chaos, was quite another, and how was he to learn that out here?

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[info]urthemielssoul
2011-09-04 04:27 am UTC (link)
Aedan nodded. "And being out here means that the number of people I can accidentally hurt is limited, and that's really the important thing for me. First time I shifted, I almost killed someone and... that never really leaves you."

Yes, the Old God part of him had been the Archdemon, but he didn't exactly consider the Blight something he'd done. It was more a darkspawn thing. "Once I'm a little more stable, I might try leaving the woods. Just little bits at a time, so I don't end up panicking and shifting."

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[info]shiftlinggirl
2011-09-04 04:35 am UTC (link)
She nodded back slowly. "Yes...I can see that." Dar smiled. "If you ever want company while you're experimenting, you can let me know, if that'd help. I promise that even if you do lose control I can get away very fast, you wouldn't have to worry about hurting me. And I'd like to help, if I can. You'd probably be less likely to panic with friends around to ground you."

Dar got to her feet. "For now, do you want to do something more fun?" She grinned and held out a hand to him. "We could see if your falcon form is faster than mine."

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[info]urthemielssoul
2011-09-04 04:39 am UTC (link)
That earned a smile. Aedan took her hand and pulled himself up - it'd been a long while since he last actually had another shapeshifter challenge him like that. "You sure? I'm a little rusty, I have to warn you..."

As long as he could still fly in a straight line, it probably wouldn't be an issue.

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[info]shiftlinggirl
2011-09-04 04:44 am UTC (link)
"Well then, you'll have to work hard to win, won't you?" Her grin widened as she blurred and took off.

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[info]urthemielssoul
2011-09-04 04:48 am UTC (link)
What was it with elven girls and sneaky headstarts recently? Aedan shook his head and quickly shifted, flying up after her. The 'rusty' thing might've been just the tiniest a bit of a lie.

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[info]shiftlinggirl
2011-09-04 05:10 am UTC (link)
Oh, that wasn't fair, he'd clearly been practicing more than he'd let on. Maybe Morrigan had a bird form too, on top of her other ones; it wouldn't surprise Dar in the least.

She didn't really race so much as play, circling and wheeling and diving. She did take care to stay near the clearing and the edges of the forest--they were still trying not to be caught, after all--but it was hard to remember. Dar hadn't ever had someone to fly with, and it was fun.

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