driftfleet | ( #002 )

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( #002 )

Who: Hermione Granger & you!
Broadcast: Fleetwide
Action: On the Vanquish
When: 10/08

[ There's a bit of movement as the feed comes on, and there's a flash of orange and a quiet 'meow' before Hermione actually gets the camera to focus on her - and she's smiling, a little shy but still there. She might have been used to making broadcasts in the Drabwurld, but things feel a little bit different here on the fleet - and a lot more public. ]

Hi. So, my name is Hermione Granger, for anyone that doesn't know, and I was hoping to start a sort of... Greenhouse, for all of us to use, for herbs and plants for the labs. I just wanted to see if anyone had anything that they wanted to grow there?

[ She stands up, moving to one side before she turns the feed, pointing it down at her desk where there's an odd assortment of seeds organised into little pots, all with neat labels and ordered into fewest to most, for those that care. There's a garden there already, but having one entirely dedicated to herbology might be useful. ]

I have a handful already, and I think I can handle setting things up with a bit of transfiguration, but if anyone had some ideas or wanted to help I'd be more than happy to listen. It won't be on the Vanquish, of course, but somewhere on the Iskaulit for anyone to use... Eventually. I'm not entirely sure how long this sort of thing might take to set up, honestly. I'm hoping to build a little potions room, too, if anyone's magical like me.

[ ... At least she has dirt, literally, from the planet? ]

Anyway! Thank you, for listening, and let me know. Thank you!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Hermione knows that sort of look - it's the same one she used to give John, or Remus, or someone of the like before she went gallivanting halfway across the world to help someone or do a favour for someone else. All she can do is wait, and then she's beaming, excitement thrumming through her.

She's missed sparring, as odd as it sounds, and being able to do it with magic... When she goes home she'll be better than ever. ]

Should we meet in an empty room on the Iskaulit?

Great, how's the one a section over from the exercise course?

[He'd suggest the exercise course room itself with all its swinging targets and such but better to get a basis for what she can actually do before turning up the difficulty. Instead the room he's thinking of is an empty space, plain bulkheads unadorned by anything. It's a waste of space, really. You'd think there'd be storage in there at least, but it had given him a quiet place to privately hyperventilate to himself after Anders had left the bar that one night...

Yeah, that was. Not the best night...

But this is much more fun and entirely unrelated!]

That sounds perfect. It'll be out of the way and we shouldn't have to worry about damaging anything.

[ Which is a conscious thought, because Hermione had blown up coffee shops and forests before - not on purpose, of course, but because that had been what they'd had to do to survive and escape. It does spark the idea of, maybe, setting up some kind of magical duelling station on the Iskaulit, alongside the garden, but...

Maybe that plan can come after the herbs are planted and everything's working out. ]

I hope you're ready for me.

Serah Hermione, I am always ready for anything.

[He gives a playful wink and shuts off the chat so he can head off to the Iskaulit and meet her, stopping first briefly to get his staff. He's still missing a focusing crystal to go in the dragon's mouth at the head, but the blade's been transmuted from the dinosaur bone he'd claimed as a spoil of war at the last planet, and it's nicely burnished. The bone shines almost like metal with the transmutations Alphonse did one it and Hawke's quite pleased overall with how his new staff is coming along.

Awhile later, he's stepping into the aforementioned room, staff on his back and an armful of tennis balls from the obstacle course ladening his arms. They'll need targets, after all. It's not as if Hawke has a barrier, and he doesn't know what kind of control Hermione has. Better to show their skills on inanimate objects.]

[ As skilled as she might be, Hermione isn't exactly planning to go out of her way to hurt someone else - not if she can help it. When she turns up it's with the expectation that they'll show off somehow, true, but that they won't be deliberately trying to hurt someone else, especially when she's more than happy to try and make friends with someone.

Poking her head into the room, she brightens when she sees Hawke, stepping through. ]

Hi there.

[ Her wand is up her sleeve, but she doesn't draw it yet, just walking over with a soft smile. ]

I hope you're as excited as I am.

Absolutely giddy!

[He dumps the tennis balls in a corner, moving in a surprised flurry in a moment to actually keep them in the corner as they try to escape, but once they're settled he picks one up carefully, tossing it up and catching it.]

I figure we can use the balls as targets or subjects, depending on what you want to show off. And of course, ladies first.

[He holds out the green fuzzy ball to her with a gracious smile.]

I can tell.

[ She has to fight back her laughter, utterly charmed as she moves over to do her best to help him before all the balls end up escaping him. When they're done, she reaches out for the ball and nods her head, shifting to move to one side. ]

Well, this is going to be interesting.

[ Drawing her wand, she points it at the ball and, with a gentle whisper, makes it float. Next comes a flick of her wrist and Bombarda, making the ball...

Explode backwards, just a little. ]

Oh, nice!

[A smaller explosion than maybe he'd expected, but best to be careful in an enclosed space like this.

Using his force magic, Adalwolfe pulls the half-exploded ball towards him through the air along with another from the corner. He funnels his mana into his fingertips as he holds the balls in each hand, one catching fire and the other freezing over entirely. Paradoxically, even when he brings them close together, the ice doesn't start to melt.

He juggles them for a moment, looking a bit smug.]

Starting simple is good, but where should we go from here?

That is incredible.

[ Hermione beams, stepping forward to get a closer look. She had seen Nasrin use magic, of course, but it was never anything like this, and the delight she feels is painted all over her features. Ice and fire magic - she had seen a lot of it in the Drabwurld but had only experimented a little herself; her own had been more than enough for her.

Pausing for a second, she considers before she turns back to another tennis ball. ]

Let's see...

[ She draws her wand and aims, focussing, before she casts again. Diffindo literally tears the tennis ball from seam to seem, and then Avis summons a small flock of birds that come and tear away at the other parts, ripping it to shreds with their claws and their beak. It's not quite as impressive as fire and ice, but... ]

[That's actually rather brutal, if imagined on a person. Useful, too, but brutal. Not that he can really complain considering he can crush people under their own weight with his magic.

He tosses one of the balls into the air and lets it hover, then twirls his staff from his back and slams the bladed end down into the floor. As he does, the air grows oppressive, then light, causing a rushing sound. The tennis ball plummets to the floor and stays there without a bounce distending into more of a pancake shape under an unseen weight.

He lets up after a moment, letting out a breath. He has to concentrate a little harder for that one. The tennis ball remains as flat as ever.]

Curious, do you need to speak a word or incantation with every spell?

[ Hermione blinks a little, momentarily out of sorts from the sheer danger that she sees in Hawke's magic, and it's incredible. Her own had never really been geared towards fighting and combat - there's duelling, of course, but nothing quite as deadly or dangerous as Hawke seems capable of. It's a mixture of terrifying and exhilarating, and she beams as she turns to look at him. ]

That was amazing.

[ She moves a little closer to lean down and look at the tennis ball before she hears his question. ]

It's not necessary, but it's fairly advanced magic. Spells are made up of their incantation and the wand movement, and doing one without the other is difficult. Performing magic with no wand and no incantation is... Really hard.

[The tennis ball is as flattened as if a building had fallen on it, the sides having given way and the rubber inside split.]

Really? I've never really had to use incantations. Or a wand, for that matter, but a focus can be useful, hence the staff.

[He shifts the dragon-headed staff in his hands to illustrate.]

I've mostly seen incantations used for maintained spell casting, like keeping something temporarily imprisoned or the like. Things that require a great deal of concentration.

[Because manipulating gravity or the elements in a specified area apparently doesn't.]

[ It's more than a little interesting, and it takes Hermione a moment to turn her head back and not be distracted. ]

I think wands are a little like the staffs - a means to focus, and accent the spellwork. Each wand has a sort of... Nature, or a personality, and whether or not you get along with it can help or hinder you magically.

[ She is curious about the staff, though, and finally stands to move back over to Hawke's side. ]

Each spell from my world has an incantation and most of them use similar wand movements as well. The more difficult a spell is the more you need to focus, of course, and some spells need serious intent behind them for them to actually work.

That makes sense. I don't know about personalities, but some staves are easier to channel certain elements through, or you get used to how they feel. Alphonse made this one for me, actually. It's not done yet, but it just needs a crystal. It works fine without it.

[He holds it near to her with a quirked eyebrow, inviting her to hold it if she's curious. Even at this range it seems to radiate cold.]

The rest goes to reason too, though again we don't have specific movements or incantations. I've always just done what feels right, you know? You think 'ice' and...

[He flicks his hand towards the far wall in a wide sweep, a spray of ice jumping from energy in his hand into reality against the wall, splattered up the side as if a wave had come up and then frozen there mid-crash.]

I imagine they must be similar in origin, even if they're not the same in practice. I've used a wand that isn't mine before and it really just doesn't feel right - it's awful, like... Trying to fit into shoes too small, or something like that. It just doesn't work and you have to fight with it to cast even a simple spell.

[ She shifts and takes a step closer, reaching out to press her fingers against the staff. It's cold, and again she's reminded sharply of Nasrin. ]

That's... Just incredible. Young children have instinctive magic, little things that they do before they realise they're a witch or wizard, but it's not the same as that. This is something really amazing.

I haven't had that experience with a staff before. I've had staves that are just sticks of wood with a blade on the end but when one really resonates with you, you do feel it. This is probably the second most resonant staff I've ever used, since it was made for me. The first belonged to my father.

[The Key had been left behind, somewhere in the middle of the desert. The last thing he has from his father. The journals were left in Orlais, the staff in the Western Approach, his raiment in Kirkwall... He tries not to think of how his Father's legacy has been scattered to the winds.]

I've never thought about it. I mean, there are books with incantations for spells and I suppose Circle mages do learn that way. My father used his journals for my sister and I but it was still much more instinctual, less structured. He would tell us to cause an effect, like lighting a candle, and we would figure out how on our own. Sometimes maybe with little hints, but still he thought it best we figure it out.

[He lets her hold the staff, deciding she's responsible enough not to hurt anything.]

Maybe it's just how you learn it. You learn in a school, you said? Desks and a chalk slates?

I think that's familiar. Wands can be passed down through generation to generation, and they can be won, too, through duelling and battle, but... I can't imagine swapping it out, or using something that was different. It feels like a part of me, an extension of my arm, as if we have a connection. I don't think it's something you can explain until you've felt it yourself.

[ Hermione doesn't have magical parents, of course, so she has no basis of comparison, but she tilts her head up, hesitant for a moment, her eyes flickering over Hawke before she moves a little closer. She's not blind; she can see where his heart is, where his thoughts are. ]

Desks and parchment with ink, but I imagine before the school was created that witches and wizards must have learned like you did. I know about the Circle - Sebastian told me what he knew - and... It sounds like the worst kind of place. I wish I could show you Hogwarts, the school and the teachers, the magical world. I think you'd really like it.

[ She holds the staff with due reverence, running her fingers over the wood gently as she speaks. ]

I've heard of that, sometimes mages losing battles and the winners take their staves as trophies. Usually it's in wartime though. I don't know what happens in the Circle towers.

[He furrows his eyebrows at her saying she knows about the Circle. This Sebastian, he at least sounds sympathetic. It's too bad they'd never met, maybe they could have used his clout.]

I would have loved to be able to learn in a place like that, where magic is celebrated as the gift it is instead of a curse. The fundamental difference seems to be that where you're from, people who don't have magic don't even know about it. If they did, they'd likely be frightened, at best.

[Or do the same as Thedas, hide behind religion to persecute those who have the potential to be dangerous, as if anyone who owns a back hoe and gets angry couldn't decide to be dangerous.

The staff vibrates with a latent energy, pulsing cold every so often and exuding a soft mist around her fingers. If she were to make any move with it, willed it, she could produce small bolts of cold and ice without so much as a spell. As long as she has magic, she can make the staff work for her.]

It's not traditional where I'm from either, not really, but it's the only real way to 'steal' someone's wand, unless that wand really didn't want to belong to them. "The wand chooses the wizard"; they decide if they want to work with you or not. They're not sentient, exactly, but they are magical. It gives them a certain nature that normal object just can't have.

[ Hermione knows a little, but it's not enough. Nasrin had been Inquisitor, after all, and had never really been 'in' the Circle; all she knows is from someone on the outside... That's hardly fair. ]

It's definitely a difference, but... It doesn't mean that magical people are all wonderful and kind. There are some magical folk that believe that muggles are dirty, or worthless, and want nothing more to kill them and their children, even if their children have magic.

[ Like herself. Hermione turns her head to focus on the staff, turning it a little and watching as the ice comes out - and it really is something miraculous, making her eyes light up a little, losing her train of thought for a moment. ]

No, and there's blood mages and power hungry magisters too.

[He watches her, knowing that comments like that come from a place of first hand knowledge. He won't push, he can guess well enough the sorts of things that people like that do.]

But all that shows is that mages are just people, same as non-magic folk. They can love and hate, act or restrain themselves. Our magic is no more dangerous than a sword is in the hands of a Templar or a dagger in the grip of an assassin. The only difference is they can't disarm us, so they make up entire institutions to keep us under control, on the off chance someone might not want to play nice.

[He lets his eyes wander to the tennis balls lying around, now mostly ignored until his moody gaze falls on them.]

All that does is make more mages more likely to act out.

That's probably true to every world. It doesn't need to have magic.

[ People want power, and they'll take it. There are magical and muggle examples of both, and she had learned them all. ]

The fact that they make those institutions is what causes the problems, though, surely? Isn't it better to educate and instruct mages and help them to understand themselves rather than back them into a corner so the only thing they have left to do is lash out? It's nonsensical, really, especially if you think about what kind of amazing work could happen if people tried to be amicable. Alliances, working together, schools, studying...

[ She huffs a noise. ]

Maybe I'm too hopeful.

[At that, Adalwolfe smiles softly. She's not just smart, she's wise, but also still has hope. He really has found a kindred spirit, he thinks, and privately vows to himself to protect her at all costs. Another little sister that maybe he won't fail miserably this time.]

You're just the right amount of hopeful. It's only when people don't have hope that everything falls apart. At least, that's what I think.

[He spreads his hands.]

I don't know when the Sebastian you met was from, but I seem to be at least one of the furthest along as far as Thedas goes here in the Fleet and when I'm from, the mages and Templars are at war over it all. It's... actually pretty awful, but it's still something rather than mages living in fear under the Chantry's thumb. And yet despite all of that, the main force of the rebel mages have all joined something called the Inquisition to help defeat a common threat to all the world, and they were allowed to join freely, not through conscription. It's a step in the right direction, so yeah. I think it's important to have hope, because if you do, then things like that happen.

[Hope, or faith. Faith in Inquisitor Lavellan when Hawke hasn't had faith in anyone in a position of real power in decades. To think such a small elf could carry all that on his shoulders and still believe in the best of people. Anders would have liked him, Wolfe thinks, if it wasn't the most idiotic idea for the man who blew up a Chantry to go waltzing in to the stronghold of the Herald of Andraste. Still, hopefully they'll get to meet at some point. Gianni had been keep to hear about him.]

[ Hermione knows that if she'd lost hope she'd never have made it as far as she had in the Drabwurld; she'd never have survived, not after all the things she faced and all the horrors she experienced. There was no going back, and she's aware of it - so she had to keep going forward. ]

If people stop hoping then there's no momentum to go forward, is there?

[ Her head tilts up and she watches, listening, completely rapt. ]

It's... It's more than they had before, isn't it? They were able to join because they wanted to, not because they were ordered or because they feared for their lives. That's something amazing, isn't it?

[ She breathes out, lifting her hand and huffing a noise, considering for a moment before she relaxes, leaning back. Her eyes turn back to look at Hawke and she tilts her head up, wondering, before - ]

I think Thedas can get better. There was a time in my world where witches and wizards were rounded up and burned alive. We've come to a point where there's some coexistance, but there's secrecy, too. If that same level could be met in Thedas...

[He accepts his staff back and leans on it, his posture loose and nonchalant despite the weight of their conversation.]

I think you're partially right, eventually, and it would take some very big steps. There's no way to go into secrecy when magic is common knowledge and written about in the predominant religion of settled Thedas, and that's not even counting the Tevinter Imperium, where mages are the ruling class. What Thedas does need is a Divine on the side of the mages, one who won't allow us to be subjugated because we might maybe misuse our Maker-given gifts. It's the same as misusing a sword.

[He huffs quietly, then smiles, tired of the heavy talk. He's gone over it again and again with Anders, and others far less likely to take it to heart. It's out of his hands now anyway, since he's here.]

Let's talk about what we came here for, though. What other magic did this fancy school of yours teach? It's a lot more subtle than mine.

Anyone can misuse something given to them. It doesn't have to be magic. Look at politicians or, like you said, warriors and soldiers. It doesn't have to be magical to make it dangerous, and that's something the world - Thedas - needs to learn. It's... Just going to take time. I really do hope your world can end up like mine one day.

[ But Hawke smiles and Hermione softens, relaxing a little, and she breathes out. Tilting her head up, she brightens a little at the chance to return to one of her favourite topics - school. ]

Transfiguarion, Charms, Potions, Arithmancy, Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures, Muggle Studies, Divination... [ Her nose wrinkles at that; obviously she isn't a fan. ] Ancient Runes was one of my favourites, but also Defence Against the Dark Arts, too.

( #002 )

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