Waystation Mingle Log!

[twocomplex]

Who: GAME-WIDE MINGLE aka everyone
Broadcast: If you want
Action: The Stations!
When: From 04/05 through the month of April.

[Well, that all sure happened. But at least you have the waystations! Whether you want to stock up on supplies, work, trade, or visit the very fancy Virtual Reality Dome, it's bound to be a nice break from the attacks of the 5th.

Make your own prompts, set up your own Virtual Realities, etc! For reference, the OOC post with info is over here!]

Comments

[forcemageure]

[ Because it is a space intended to be uninterrupted, Hawke stumbles upon what he has no reason to recognize as the Circle entirely by accident. He may have a fairly, uh unorthodox sense of decorum, but privacy is generally left alone.

So he gets the wrong room, and moreover the fact that it's both occupied by Steffa and unmistakably Ferelden kind of hit him at once. ]

Well! Fancy meeting you here.

[howcanihelp]

[ Steffa looks up, startled by the sound of... well, someone addressing her. It takes a moment to process that it's Garrett, and not, say, a fellow apprentice coming to try to convince her to cause some minor trouble, but when it processes finally, she smiles faintly. ]

Well, it seemed like a good choice for somewhere to read, anyway. Something familiar, yeah?

[forcemageure]

Is it? Where are we, exactly?

[ He can guess, but ...instead he sits down on one of the empty beds, knees apart with hands dangling loosely between them. ]

[howcanihelp]

The apprentice dormitory at the Circle.

[ She smoothes the blanket she's sitting on with a faint, nostalgic smile. ]

I thought it'd be nice. The last time I was at the tower it was...

[ she trails off and shakes her head with a wry smile ]

Anyway, I thought it'd be nice to have someplace familiar to unwind, after all the... near-exploding.

[forcemageure]

[ Hawke remembers what happened to the Circle tower during the Blight. Everyone does. The news had certainly made it to Kirkwall, held up as an example of what happened to mages unchecked. ]

Can't fault you there.

[ He looks around, taking in what appears all told to be deeply innocuous, for the way he's been taught to see it. ]

I've never been in one of these, you know. Never had a Harrowing, either. I don't seem to be possessed, but it's so hard to tell these days.

[howcanihelp]

[ Steffa laughs, then covers her mouth to try to stifle it. She's glad, so glad, that she got to meet him. He's fantastic, and family. Her family, that's something important. Something no one can take away from her. ]

Well, in my professional, Harrowed opinion, you seem to be more-or-less unpossessed, so I wouldn't worry about it.

[ She sighs a little, glances to a nearby bed - Jowan's bed, not that Garrett would have any idea about that. ]

There was a time when I thought my Harrowing would be the worst thing to ever happen in my life. Can you imagine? Looking back, it seems rather... mundane, in comparison.

[forcemageure]

Tell me about it. I used to think nothing could be a bigger pain in the ass than bloody Templars on it day in day out.

[ Templars on his ass, yes. His line of sight follows hers, but if she doesn't bring it up he's not going to pry. ]

This was home, was it? Not with your parents?

[ He knows a lot of mages join the Circle young, but--as homey as it looks nothing about it is making him anything but glad he was raised an apostate. ]

[howcanihelp]

I was about six. Five, maybe, they didn't send me along with much more information than my name. I don't really remember my parents.

[ She rests her chin in her hand, thoughtfully. ]

I remember the last time I saw my mother, though, I think. Not what she looked like, but she was... sad, and I didn't know why. She hugged me, and told me I was going on a trip and not to be scared, and that she loved me.

I think it was her. I suppose it could've been a nursery maid or something similar, but... I like to believe it was her, anyway.

[forcemageure]

[ The thing that strikes him most immediately, is that this description largely resembles how Aveline talked of her, the few times the subject came up. Notable because Aveline's mother died when she was a child; for all Steffa knows hers went on to live another fruitful 17 years at least, might be living still, but there's exactly as much relationship to speak of between them.

None of this shows on his face; Maker knows exactly how much he'd like to have that conversation at this moment. He just nods in acknowledgement instead. ]

What was it like? I've heard the Ferelden Circle was supposed to be one of the more 'tolerable.' [ He air quotes, assuming they have those in Thedas. Why not? ] Though that was from Anders - the, erm, older one - so you can imagine what kind of scale he was using.

[ Although frankly there is no scale on which a year of isolation isn't hideous. ]

[howcanihelp]

[ No, the year of isolation was... well, Steffa was a little more careful around the templars after that, but always assumed... if she didn't try to run away or break the big rules, she'd be okay.

And, for what it was worth, she was. Until she broke a big rule. ]

Uneventful, really. Mostly we studied. Sometimes an apprentice would accidentally set someone on fire, or freeze themselves to the floor. Or a senior mage would be expirmenting with something and end up singing off their eyebrows and shaking the whole tower.

I remember getting to go outside for exercises the first year or so, and that was always fun. [ dryly ] Until Anders took a running leap off the dock and tried to swim for freedom. Past the templars, who had boats. I'm not even sure he actually knew how to swim, honestly.

We weren't really allowed outside after that.

[forcemageure]

[ Hawke shakes his head, letting it drop so the chuckle falls between loose arms. ]

Can't say I blame him. You know how my parents met? Or had they stopped passing the great family scandal around at dinner parties by the time they packed you off?

[ There is a certain bubbling warmth and fondness in the five words he dedicates to Anders, but they pass quickly and seamlessly enough to fit easily between threads of the conversation as a hole. ]

[howcanihelp]

[ She does not miss that particular tone, Cousin. She'll have to keep an eye on you two, won't she? ]

If they hadn't, I wasn't privy to them. [ a smile ] How did they meet?

[forcemageure]

[ Hawke alights with several thousand watts of theatrical flare. ]

Well. She was, as you know, a daughter of the once-mighty Amells, he a charming, roguish apostate. Except he wasn't an apostate then, he was the darling of Kirkwall's Circle! And so liberal at the time was that institution that its best mages performed at the Viscount's functions.

[ Which is better, his face wonders, locked up, or locked up except for when you're trotted out like show animals? ]

So apparently he did a fire dance or something for my mother, I've never been in on the exact details. It was all downhill from there. Elopement, family estrangement...Maker, it's a wonder they ever let mages out anywhere.

[howcanihelp]

[ Steffa presses a hand to her mouth, holding in a giggle. ]

That is ridiculously romantic. Straight out of one of my novels, honestly. [ she leans forward with an innocent grin ] When did you come into the picture? Before or after the elopement?