ladyruffles (![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} ladyruffles) wrote in ![[info]](https://www.insanejournal.com/img/community.gif){kind=small} valarlogs,@ 2015-08-12 00:15:00 |
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When: Backdated: Mid July
Where: Deli
What: Random Meeting
Rating/Warnings: Family friendly
Status: Complete
Josephine was worried about Naga. Since the other woman had lost her friend in the last OC weirdness she had been a bit of a loose canon; after all, her magic had caused that bar to set on fire a little bit. Josephine really liked Naga though, so she was determined to help her any way that she could.
At the moment though, Josephine was on her lunch break from work and had decided to stop in at a nearby deli that made some of the best sandwiches she had ever tasted.
The sandwiches in the deli really were delicious. Anders had three. The coffee also wasn't bad, and he was sipping on one of those, sitting at a table the front counter with an open notebook in front of him, his thoughts scribbled messily across the page. He had finished the general outline for his manifesto, and was finally getting ready to write the whole thing out. "Excuse me," he motioned to the woman who was at the counter. "If you were inclined to read a political treatise, would you rather there be some humour thrown in, or would you rather it be serious all the way through?" he asked.
Josephine glanced towards the vaguely familiar voice and smirked as she saw Anders. She’d met him once before in person when he’d had a party for all those who dreamt of Thedes and she couldn’t help but wonder if he’d recognized her or if he had decided to question the next stranger who walked by, who just happened to be her, “I’d rather a little humor. Who wants to read a political treatise that’s completely serious?”
“Serious people who like to read political treatises,” Anders said, an almost jovial tilt to his voice. He gave a smile to the woman at the counter, and then turned back toward his notebook, before taking a double take. “Wait a minute, I know you,” he said, and when he realized who she was he was a little embarrassed. Then again, he had drank quite a bit that night. “Josephine, right?” he asked.
Josephine smiled as he recalled her name, “Yup, and you’re Anders, right?” She remembered that he was a Mage in the dreams, but she’d only heard stories about him from Varric. “It really is a small world, huh?” Her attention was brought back to the girl behind the counter once the person who had been in front of her left, “Give me one second.” She said to Anders then placed her sandwich order. Upon completing her order, she stepped back to Anders’ table and gestured towards the empty chair, “Do you mind if I join you while I wait for my lunch?”
“Please do,” Anders said, closing up his notebook and stashing it away into his rucksack. “It’s been a while. How have you been?”
“I’ve been alright.” For the most part Josephine had been good aside from the worrying about Naga part. She wished there was more that she could do for the other woman, “How have you been? Had any more dreams about Thedes? Mine have started to progress a little more.” Now that Josephine had had more dreams, she was more aware of the events of the Mage Templar skirmish and Anders’ role in the whole thing. Of course this only made her more curious about the details and wondered if he was there yet.
Talking about his dreams wasn't something Anders had been wanting to do lately, especially not after losing control to Justice when they had first joined together and killing, well, everyone who had been around. That dream had been horrific, though he was feeling more confident in keeping a reign on the spirit that was living inside him now. He was stronger than the Anders in his Dreams. The Circle hadn't worked on breaking him for most of his life.
"I've had a few," Anders answered, wounding more tired about them than anything else. "I've recently left the Grey Wardens and I'm living in Kirkwall now, healing some of the refugees who can't afford to see anyone else. I’ve recently met a group of people. Hawke, Varric, and Hawke’s little sister, Bethany." He wasn't sure if she had heard of him, or the things he had done while in Kirkwall, but he was hoping the answer was no. "How have your dreams been, by the way? Hopefully they're not too bad, though I'm not sure if 'not too bad' is possible for people living in Thedas."
Considering her dreams took place after Anders’ and the events that had happened in Kirkwall were rather big news had spread all over Thedes. Not to mention, Varric was currently amongst the various people at Haven, “Does dream you enjoy being in one place after traveling around when you were a Grey Warden? Or do you find it boring and get antsy?” There had been a few times in her own dreams where part of her had wished to join the Herald on missions, but she had far too many things to attend to at Haven to even attempt it.
“They haven’t been too bad. I’ve mostly stayed at our base and handled the diplomatic side of things. The Herald is the one who has been going out and recruiting people to our cause.” Not to mention closing the various rifts and fighting demons.
"I don't really like staying in one place, no," Anders said. There was too much of a chance of the Templars finding him, or the Grey Wardens. He assumed that they'd presume he was among the dead Wardens he had left, but if they ever found him then there was a chance it wouldn't end well. "But I wasn't exactly fond of the Wardens either. I'm not a big fan of nature. Or of the Deep Roads." The first Wardens he had traveled with, Maia, Oghren, Sigrun and to a lesser extent Nathaniel had been great companions. The ones he got stuck with after, Rolan in particular, made him regret ever joining the Wardens. "There's a lot to do in Kirkwall though. A lot of people to help." The refugees who needed healing, and the mages who needed freedom.
"That's with that Inquisition that happens, isn't it?" The Inquisition that, near as Anders could gather, had something to do with the Mage-Templar war he had helped incite, although he didn't know much of the details.
Josephine nodded, “That’s the one. We’re still in the early stages in my dreams, but I know that a lot goes down and not all of it good. I just don’t know any details.” From the things that Cassandra and Leliana had alluded to over the last few months, part of Josephine wasn’t looking forward to finding out what these horrible things were, “At the point in Thedas in my dreams, the Wardens have more or less vanished. No one knows what happened to them or where the Hero of Ferelden went.”
“The Wardens have…” Anders started, and then trailed off because there really was no point in repeating what she had said. With the Warden Commander going missing too, it couldn’t be anything good. Unless she was following up with The Architects plans, sending Wardens into the Deep Roads in order to slay the remaining Old Gods before they became corrupted. Taking all of the Wardens for that was more than a little reckless though. Wardens in groups attracted the attention of Dark Spawn, whereas small parties of Wardens were less detectable. “I hope she’s okay. I guess you wouldn’t know something like that though. Thedas apparently just keeps getting worse and worse.”
“I can’t even begin to imagine what could be worse than an actual Blight. I mean, the Breach is pretty awful, but at least there hasn’t been any Archdemons.” Giant dragons were not something that Josephine wanted to encounter. Just then Josephine’s name was called and a bag was placed on the pick up counter, “Looks like my lunch is ready. Hopefully we can talk again soon.” Josephine enjoyed talking to others who dreamt of Thedas, even if their dreams took place before hers.
“If I’m honest, I largely avoided the Blight.” It had come from the South and he had gone North when he had escaped the Circle. He’d run into small bands of Darkspawn, and occasionally rescued the odd farmer’s family, but for the most part he just passed by desolated towns and avoided the main horde. The Blight was terrible, as was the fall of Kinloch Hold, but in truth, Anders had appreciated the fact that it had kept the Templars off his tail for over a year. “I just got to clean up the Darkspawn Civil War afterward. Not nearly as bad, from what I’ve been told, and luckily Archdemon free.”
Anders smiled when she went to pick up her sandwiches. “I hope we can too. Enjoy your lunch!”