driftfleet | I've done my sentence but committed no crime

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I've done my sentence but committed no crime

Who: Adalwolfe Hawke and you!
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: On the Iskaulit
When: Nowish

Broadcast

[The video pops up with Adalwolfe's face centered in the camera, but with the background moving behind him, clearly showing the familiar corridors of the Iskaulit. He's making his way to his new job at Málum as bartender.]

So I noticed on the list of scheduled lectures posted a bit ago that there are several on magic, not to mention several people I've spoken with having positive or relaxed reactions to its use. It's incredibly strange to me that everyone is so open and accepting of this, considering the doctrine regarding magic in my home of Thedas, so it begs the following question and I hope at least someone from outside of Thedas will indulge me:

What is magic like on your world? Is it regulated? Does everyone have the ability to use it, or only a small number of people? Are there prejudices that go along with that.

Ah, well, I suppose that's more than one question. Still, if you're willing to talk about it, please feel free to respond to this post and I'll get back to you when I'm finished with work. Thank you!

[The video clicks off.]

Action

It's only a short walk from the hanger to the bar, but Adalwolfe takes his time since he can't watch where he's going very well as he's recording on his device. Which could lead to all kinds of problems. He seems to be avoiding walls okay, but if a person, say, came out of a corridor nearby or happened to step in front of him at just the right time before he put down the little screen, he might just bowl right into them, or walk right past without noticing a mischievous foot out for him to trip over. Honestly, he's an open target. Or at least seems like it...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[She has a point, maybe, but it's a lot more complicated than all that. Not exactly something he wants to get into here though.]

Blood magic is the same in Thedas; not to be used, especially since it often coincides with trucking with demons. Magic for the dead is more complicated. There's a country in my world that has an entire culture built around death magic.

[Not that he knows much about Nevarra and their Mortalitasi, but it does exist.]

It's mostly viewed with suspicion other places, though. As for magic involving the living... what do you mean by that?

Those that ignore magic simply from fear or disgust are not worthy of learning it.

[ As far as she's concerned, anyway. She's had to teach herself to think that way otherwise she would lose her mind; her own source of magic is her blood, and she can't imagine any other tool being as useful as her own body.

A culture of death magic catches her interest, though, but she isn't sure how to pry further without making things too obvious, and sometimes she herself must be guarded. ]

Rituals upon the bodies of those that have not died. Using living things as catalysts, or tools, or trade.

Ah. From the way you describe it, we have a similar taboo to that one too, though I think it has more to do with how willing the participant is, or how grotesque the result... and not all nations share it.

[He thinks of Fenris, covered in lyrium tattoos, glowing as he rushes into battle. By the way he'd talked about it, the elf hadn't asked for such a thing, but Hawke hadn't learned enough to know.

He frowns, looking distracted for a moment.]

Either way, it sounds as if magic is similar on our worlds, at least in theory. What sort of mage are you, then? I have an affinity for ice and force magic, for example.

[He brings a smile to his face, encouraging her to share.]

[ And, ah. Lauralae leans back and shifts, settling a little before she tilts her head and makes herself as comfortable as she can. ]

You may not react well to it.

[ Her gaze turns away, and she shakes her head. ]

I use my blood.

[Got it in one.

Adalwolfe's expression becomes carefully blank.]

I see.

[He pauses, wrestling with himself and his morals for a moment.]

...May I ask why?

[ Her eyes turn away, and she forces herself to look away. ]

Why not?

[ It's as simple as that to her. ]

Because of the dangers. Dealing with demons is never a good idea. They always want something, and it's usually to wear your skin as a suit.

[Because blood magic and demons go hand and hand in his mind. That's what he was always taught, and that's how it works for most mages in Thedas. Blood magic is forbidden, and never taught save by those who already know it. Namely, demons. Tempting mages from the Fade with the power to crush their enemies, to pass their Harrowing, to return what or who was lost.

They only ask one thing in return.]

Did you know, when you started?

Not in my realm. Demons do no such thing in Alvanja.

[ It's not how it works for her; blood magic is simply pulling energy from life itself, twisting it and moulding it. It's ritualistic and dangerous and most people turn away from it, but Lauralae had found it logical for her to begin; she could not bleed to death, really, and so she had an unlimited resource.

She raises her eyes back to the camera, careful. ]

Did I know what?

Did you know it was taboo, when you started?

[Though her saying that demons don't act the same as they do in Thedas on her world is something he has to do a bit of mental gymnastics to wrap his head around.]

And if demons don't do that where you're from...

[A big if.]

What do they do?

Yes.

[ But she was already a taboo simply by existing, cast out from her people and forced to cut off her own ears. She doesn't think blood magic will do much else to damn her.

Shaking her head, she simply gazes at him, intent and sure. ]

What do humans do? There is no difference. Demons are only more powerful.

That's hardly-

[He starts to argue then stops. Thinks. It still sits poorly with him all this business with blood magic and demonic pacts, but it also makes sense that other worlds are different and therefore their demons are different.

Crowley is different, anyway. Maybe. Hawke's still not sure entirely. It seems to him that this might be how demons are, when they truly tempt you. They seem innocuous, harmless at best, but slowly they earn your trust and then...

He hasn't resolved to trust Crowley just yet, even if he works for him, and he can't accept that demons in any world could be seen as just people. Blood magic, fine, it's another method of power even if it is a slippery slope. You don't necessarily need a demon to learn it and so long as you are careful... His father had been, or so he'd learned, a truth that still rattled like a sore tooth.

But demons. Demons feed on the negative emotions of mortals, devouring them from the inside slowly and embodying their weaknesses. Maybe they have once been spirits perverted from their original forms, but once demons there isn't a single redeeming quality.]

The difference is demons cannot be what we would call good. Their only purpose is to feed on mortals. Humans, elves, dwarves, even Qunari at least have it in them to be either. Demons are all evil and want nothing more than to corrupt and devour.

In your world. Who is to say that mine is the same?

[ Her voice goes low and rough as she speaks now, tilting her head up and shifting forward. ]

I have seen the best and worst of all creatures. I have seen humans that rise up and declare themselves to be akin to Gods, to claim the title and wreak the power, harming all those that dare to suggest they are otherwise - the Gods themselves spite them, and they do not listen. I have seen humans that live in poverty because of their choices, because they are ill or unable to work, and the rest of the world simply pretends they do not exist. Is that not worse than anything a demon might do?

[ There's a strange hollowness to her voice, now, and her eyes are dark, gazing forward. ]

Demons in the realm that I know can follow their own path. They choose what they wish to do. They may aspire to knowledge or choose damnation - let it be their choice. The Gods have created them and, thus, they are fit to choose their purpose. It is the same for elves, for dwarves, for spirits and for those that are inbetween, that have no claim to race or clan. To damn all the creatures of all worlds with understanding of but one is shameful, and ignorant.

[ And then, quietly: ]

It makes you seem the fool.

[From where he's standing, it makes her look foolish. Demons are demons; lusting after the humanity they can't have is quite literally what makes them what they are. They are spirits perverted from their purpose, corrupted into monsters. It defines what a demon is.

So perhaps it's a language barrier and she's not talking about demons as Hawke knows them to be. For her, "demon" could just be another word for another race. He doesn't care at all for being called a fool, but he can see where she would think that, if that is the case.

Or she defends them because one has a tight lock around her soul. An Abomination under any recognizable definition. The timbre of her voice, the hollowed change in it, draws his eyebrows.]

If they are as you describe, they're not demons but something else. I concede that demon may be the word you use for them, but having that choice in the first place makes them something else.

[He lets out a breath and attempts a smile, though wary.]

Call it a misunderstanding over the difference in language.

[Even though he's 100% sure he's right and this girl is in deep trouble.]

Perhaps to you. It seems so foolish, in your eyes, that they may be creatures with the same gifts, the same powers, but they act differently? Would you imagine an elf to be identical in all realms?

[ Lauralae moves, carefully, shifting to tug down the hood that hangs over the back of her head, dropping it down behind her. There, she turns and bares her ears - once elven, they've been cut, the tips removed, leaving her with scarring, messy and badly done - the hand of a child. ]

They are demons. Our worlds are different, not our words. People are not the same, no matter what place they come from. They never will be. To think otherwise - that is foolish. That is ignorance. I would not think nor imagine that is what you wish to be known for.

It's semantics, that's all it is. I--

[He cuts himself off at seeing her ears. It's jarring, and makes his heart ache for a moment, the image of Merrill with the same done to her jumping unbidden to mind. A price for blood magic, a price for doing the wrong thing for the right reasons...

He lets out a breath, trying to focus on the conversation, but his voice is notably calmer.]

I was agreeing with you. What you describe is not what we in Thedas would call demons. Demons are what happens when a spirit is corrupted. Even there it would be more accurate just to call them 'bad' spirits, even if things are more complicated than that. I concede that what you call demons are different from what I am used to, but because of where I'm from, I would not call them demons save for lack of a better term if they truly have the ability to choose because that's not what demons are in Thedas, even if that is how they are in your world.

They are different, but the connotations beholden to language are different too, varied as the places they come from.

[He's quiet for a moment, considering that argument finished. It's really not a fight, save for semantics.]

What happened to your ears?

[He imagines she would not have shown him save to prove a point. He'll let her, if that's what she wants.]

Semantics.

[ Lauralae can accept that, at least, if nothing else. She can force herself to agree and understand with what is in front of her, because to be ignnorant would be a folly that would lead to her downfall. She has to rise up and accept newly given knowledge, and she takes that to heart. What she knows is not the same as what others know, and if she ignores information given then she might lose heself entirely.

She cannot let that happen, and it weighs on her.

Bowing her head, she nods, once. ]

Then they are creatures with the same name but different natures. There is no point in arguing it any longer.

[ Slowly, her eyes lift back up to him and she watches, hard and intense. ]

I cut them to prove that I am in exile. It is proof of how elves are different in all realms, for I would not suggest those that you know would do the same.

[There's that solved, then, but the intensity about her still makes him uncomfortable. The way she touts her mutilated ears, her exile, as a badge of pride when he's always thought that finding a place to fit in, a group to call family was most important. Exile is a terrible thing, even if you don't regret what you did to face it.

Maker but he misses Kirkwall. He misses Merrill.]

No, not as far as that, but I was close with an elven girl who used blood magic. She wanted to preserve her people's history, to save someone close to her too, and rather than give that up for the taboo, she chose exile from her clan and followed her heart.

[He has no judgement there. As much as he wished too that Merrill would stop, that she would leave blood magic behind and find some other way, he still respected her choice to stick to her convictions.]

[ It's not as though she shows her ears all the time, she thinks; it's rare that her hood is down and she's baring her past as a beacon of what ought to change. It's better to say that she does what she can to survive and explain herself, and sometimes that means showing the parts of herself she had grown to hate. There's no other option, not really.

She can't have regrets, because regrets will lead her to madness. ]

I did not choose exile. I was forced into it for an accident, and it is the way of our people that ears are lost as well as home. It is simply how it is.

[ Lauralae pauses, though, considers, but - it's not as if this is easy for her. ]

It is good that she did not deny herself. Too many do.

I agree. She was - is - a woman of conviction. But kind, too. She stayed behind when I left, to tend to the city elves. They accepted her, despite being shunned by her clan.

[He mulls that over quietly for a moment, mentally chewing on an idea it sparks.]

She shows, I think, that people should be judged on their intentions just as much as their actions

[ Lauralae cannot imagine that; being accepted by strangers while her own people had shunned her, having fellows of the same race treat her kindly. Her cut ears are proof of her sins, and she will never be free of them. ]

Kindness is often overlooked in those that live, no matter what their world.

[ But then she frowns, leaning back, uncertain again. ]

And what if intention is as cruel as action?

Then I think the judgement is rather clear, isn't it? I just mean there's a difference between wanting to help and things going awry and wanting to hurt in the first place and some attention should be paid to that. Losing control of your horse is different than purposely running someone down, for example.

If only everyone could see things as clearly as you do.

The world would be a better place if everyone could stop and think about the reasoning behind people's actions. All we can do is live as examples to bring that about, I think.

[He pauses, regarding her in the light of his own statement.]

Even demons.

There are many that do not care about such things.

[ And she frowns, tilting her head. ]

Some of which may even be demons.

Alright, now I'm confused. Are you for demons or against them?

[First she defends them as having free will in their own right and the capacity for good, and then she points out that some demons don't care about that in the slightest, which was his point in the first place.

This isn't a very pleasant conversational circle.]

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