alaina trevelyan } inquisitor, herald of andraste (
championinquisitor) wrote in
itinere2015-11-13 03:37 pm
Entry tags:
mass text; }{ first on the 6th and then the 15th ( ota )
Just when Alaina had started to get used to the idea of this electricity thing, it had gone out. With an earthquake and earthquakes were never good. Ever since, Alaina has been outside, working to help the people who aren't used to the life she is, who have never lived without electricity.
On November 6th, she tosses something up on the network, after her talk with Adam.
If anyone needs help with survival skills while all of this is happening, I can help. I can teach you how to set up camps, hunt, and survive out here. I suggest we try to stick together as much as possible. That will make it harder for anything to sneak up on us. Fires are good for warmth and to cook and I can help with those, but for every fire, there should be at least two to three guards. We don't know what's out here and we can't be caught off guard.
If anyone knows the situation with wildlife out here, I can do a lot of the hunting. I've done it before. I'm setting up camp in town. Anyone is welcome.
We will all survive this if we work together.
By the 15th, her tone has changed.
I don't know what that sky is, but I do know that these things wandering the streets are bad news. I'm a warrior, a champion. If you need help, call me. I'll come and I'm strong. I will protect anyone and my camp is still set up in the middle of town.
No one's dying on my watch.
I can also help people learn to fight. I'm not the trainer Cullen and Cassandra are, but I've been fighting as a warrior for a long time. I'm good with two-handed weapons, but I can do sword and shield if I have to. Sorry, but if you want anything else, you'll have to find another teacher.
(( OOC: feel free to use this as a mingle-type post for camp things and/or finding people / talking to them / getting food and supplies / whatever you need! if you'd like alaina for an action thing, just let me know or specify in your subject header! ))
On November 6th, she tosses something up on the network, after her talk with Adam.
If anyone needs help with survival skills while all of this is happening, I can help. I can teach you how to set up camps, hunt, and survive out here. I suggest we try to stick together as much as possible. That will make it harder for anything to sneak up on us. Fires are good for warmth and to cook and I can help with those, but for every fire, there should be at least two to three guards. We don't know what's out here and we can't be caught off guard.
If anyone knows the situation with wildlife out here, I can do a lot of the hunting. I've done it before. I'm setting up camp in town. Anyone is welcome.
We will all survive this if we work together.
By the 15th, her tone has changed.
I don't know what that sky is, but I do know that these things wandering the streets are bad news. I'm a warrior, a champion. If you need help, call me. I'll come and I'm strong. I will protect anyone and my camp is still set up in the middle of town.
No one's dying on my watch.
I can also help people learn to fight. I'm not the trainer Cullen and Cassandra are, but I've been fighting as a warrior for a long time. I'm good with two-handed weapons, but I can do sword and shield if I have to. Sorry, but if you want anything else, you'll have to find another teacher.
(( OOC: feel free to use this as a mingle-type post for camp things and/or finding people / talking to them / getting food and supplies / whatever you need! if you'd like alaina for an action thing, just let me know or specify in your subject header! ))

6th
[The last half of the line is actually Natasha's sense of humour kicking in. Might as well make fun of herself.]
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[ only you, natasha, can get that out of her. and, well, jill. the two people who explained electricity to her. ]
I'll be waiting. The sooner we get all these people fed and warm and safe, the better.
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[No you really can't Natasha. She gathers things she needs, though, before heading to the camp.]
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[ ha ha ha, alaina. you are so funny.
at any rate, she'll be prowling around the camp on a patrol in case something weird shows up. she hasn't made it into the camp yet -- that'll come on the 15th -- but it's definitely a place for people to be safe. there's a makeshift tent, a campfire, a pot over the campfire, where she's cooking meat. pelts are scattered across the ground to sit on or sleep under. and yes, they're all clean. alaina knows how to do this. ]
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When she shows up to where Alaina is, she's wearing exactly what she was wearing when she first got to Itinere.]
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[ wait hold on. there she goes with that weird talk alaina doesn't understand. ]
Guns what bows and arrows?
[ also what... is a gun??? ]
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No kidding. Slays them all. [She says with a straight face, though her tone gives away amusement at these puns.]
Our mathematical symbols are weird too. It's a greater than sign. [She makes it with her index and middle finger.] The other way, it's less than. [She makes it with her index and middle finger on her other hand.]
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alaina's lips quirk upwards, but her focus swaps to the new explanation. ah. that makes more sense. ]
And here I was thinking it was some sort of secret code. [ no seriously. where's leliana when you need her? ] So... bows are greater than guns? As in better than?
[ IS THAT EVEN RIGHT??? ]
And I have to ask... what is a gun?
[ says the girl wearing armor and with a greataxe strapped to her back. at least she has the decency to have her helmet off in camp. ]
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This. [She removes it from her holster on her thigh, removes the ammo, and offers to let her hold it. If she doesn't even know what a gun is, she's not holding a loaded one. Safety first.] It shoots out metal things really fast. [Yeah that's it that's the summary.]
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at the offer of the weapon, alaina chooses just to look at it. safety first is always a thing and she doesn't know how this works. she isn't like an artificer; she doesn't just throw things together or take them apart to see what happens. she takes care with her things and others'. ]
Looks expensive. And dangerous. I think I'll stick with my greataxe. [ it's what she knows best anyway. ]
So, are you ready to learn skills without electricity?
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I'm ready to try, anyway. Where do we start?
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[ she makes her way to the edge of camp, far enough that they aren't in danger of setting the camp on fire if something should go wrong. kneeling down, she starts arranging rocks and pebbles, explaining that they'll need a containment area of sorts, something to keep the fire from spreading to whatever is close by, especially if they're in a wooded area. next comes searching for fuel -- wood, leaves, pinecones -- and how to tell what's good, what's too wet, what's rotten and no use, etc. she takes it slowly, using practical application to test if natasha is getting her lessons. alaina is patient and gentle, despite her armor. she wants this to work and there's no use getting upset while teaching. she's here to make these camps and this refugee situation work. can't do that if everyone's worked up. ]
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She comes back with a handful of sticks tucked under one arm and a little collection of pinecones nestled in a sort of cradle between her arm and her chest. Placing them on the ground, she waits to see of those are in fact acceptable for usage.]
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...that response to the mage thing, though. that gets a raise of both of alaina's eyebrows. ] Most people don't want to be mages. I don't have a problem with them, but I've never heard anyone actually want to be a mage. They don't have good lives. Most people are afraid of them. Recently there was a kind of war between the rebel mages and the templars. That set everyone back against mages more than for them. [ yeah there's a story with that one. go ahead and ask, natasha.
there's time while they make a fire.
speaking of that
alaina nods at what natasha brings back, quickly putting them to use. and putting natasha to work. alaina knows all the tricks to making fires. including flint, rubbing sticks together and using a strand of hair. so natasha is getting a crash course in the whole thing. and hands-on experience.
congrats, natasha. ]
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Afraid of them because of their bad lives? [Or something else. Aaand of course she's gonna also ask: ] What kind of war?
[She's fought in various battles herself, so war is a familiar topic for her. (As is being someone with a not great past to their life.) Though, the battles she's fought in have led to things like New York being destroyed, DC almost being destroyed, most of a country blown up ... this is why the world is starting to think the Avengers need some oversight and regulations.
I might be able to add more insight on that here if we weren't five months out from Civil War, but Marvel Studios is gonna kill me with a wait until May.Also, to see how well she's doing this fire thing, I definitely rolled the d20 I use for her in
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and of course she had to ask about that. alaina sighs heavily as they work. that will be a long story. she'll have to start at the beginning, no skipping around or none of it will make sense. ]
Mages in Thedas are feared because of their connection to the Fade. [ it helps that they've talked about the fade and the veil and demons before. at least natasha has a basis for that. ] That's how they get their power. But the Fade is where the demons are and they always want a way to get through the Veil to us. Mages who aren't prepared or aren't strong enough to fight off demons are possessed by those demons. When this happens, they're called abominations and they're extremely dangerous.
So, until very recently, if a child showed even a hint of magic, they were taken to the nearest Circle tower, where they could live among other mages and hone their skills in a place where they wouldn't be a threat to anyone else. Their guardians were warriors appointed by the Chantry to keep order and safety for all. The templars were always there. [ alaina had once considered becoming a templar. very briefly. but dating cullen had changed her opinion very quickly on that. she's seen the nightmares he wakes from, has seen how the lyrium withdrawal affects him even now. it's a struggle he doesn't want; it's a struggle he warned her against. she took his word and every day they're together, she is grateful she did. ]
Recently, the Circles began to fall. Some mages wanted to live with everyone else, but Thedas is still afraid of them. With someone else pulling the strings, tensions easily blew up into a war between the rebel mages and the templars who once guarded them. They didn't care who got caught in the crossfire. I got pulled into that and put a stop to it, but it sure hasn't helped Thedas' fear of mages.
[ wanting to be a mage never ends well. thedas is pretty messed up, and that doesn't even get into darkspawn or blights. ]
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[She stops, and is quiet for a second more. It makes her angry, upset, and she knows what that's like way too much.]
Was it really safety? For them and not for everyone else afraid of them? That sounds a lot like holding people prisoner without due cause. Keeping children in a cage just in case they're a threat someday. And places like that, in my experience, tend to produce a lot of horrors and nightmares in the people who live through it.
[She knows what that's like, and it's clear in how she says it. Says the woman who was orphaned as a baby and then found by a former-ish KGB operative and raised in the Red Room, where a surviving covert branch of the KGB still thrived even after the fall of the Soviet Union operated. They called their base the Red Room. They brainwashed young Russian girls into being killers, stripping away their personalities until killing became their main purpose. Sometimes they had to spar each other to the death in there. The "graduation ceremony" was a sterilization process, so that the women couldn't someday have a family and decide to leave the assassinating and spycraft life behind for something more important. Natasha even tried to pretend to fail to get out of it, but her faking was called out on and she was forced to go through with it.
They also trained the girls in ballet. It was a cover for them, sure, but it was also for another reason. So that they would be flexible, agile, and in control of each of their movements, and also making them dancers just for a puppet master who holding their strings -- a reminder that they were not their own people, that someone would always own them.
That's the life her best friend saved her from when he decided to recruit her into SHIELD instead of killing her as he was ordered to. That's one reason why they became best friends. That's the main reason that, no matter how many time she saves his ass, she will always feels like she owes him a debt.]
No one should have choices taken away from them, especially people who are young like that. And the world shouldn't judge people who have done nothing wrong to warrant judgement. [a beat.] But I guess that's why the world anywhere isn't perfect, is it?
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I know. That's why I support the breaking of the Circles.
[ she hasn't made it official, but she's all but done it. everyone knows it, even vivienne. that's probably why they don't get along. at all. ]
I have friends who are rebel mages. I'm involved with a former templar. I know how bad it was on both sides, how the chantry manipulated them both. Dorian and Solas opened my eyes to the difficulties that mages have, how some might not want that life. Vivienne... I don't understand why, but some people like the Circles. A lot of mages do, probably because it's all they've ever known. They're afraid of their own power, afraid of becoming abominations. Whether that's justified or just beaten into them by the chantry and Thedas' own fear... I don't know. But I do know that they shouldn't be feared just because of what they might become.
[ yeah, she has feelings about this too. speaking of... ]
Besides, I know it's possible to be taken over without being a mage. I had it happen to me. An envy demon tried to take control of my mind. It created a nightmare that I had to walk so it could learn to impersonate me. So why are they feared, but I'm not?
[ because she's the chosen one, herald of andraste or so they say. it isn't fair. it isn't right. granted, she's feared for many different reasons, but none of them are because she was almost the puppet of an envy demon. ]
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Mine was called the Red Room. [Not even all of the Avengers on her team know this story about her; she told Bruce, and of course Clint knew, but that's it -- everyone else just knew 'scary Russian spy'. Her bosses at SHIELD knew the full story, but that's obvious.] A state intelligence agency had a covert branch set up even after the fall of its regime, and I was orphaned as a baby and brought into their branch, raised in it. They brainwashed young, orphaned Russian girls, and stripped our personalities until we became spies and assassins and nothing else. Nothing before or after, until every terrible thing we did in there to others and to one another didn't feel so terrible -- and even took away our ability to have children because we couldn't be having families later and deciding that was more important. And every secret organization needs a cover story anyway, so theirs was training us as ballet dancers. Appropriate metaphor when you think about it. [She's pretty sure Alaina can figure that one out.] And that's what Clint Barton - the person sent to kill me once - saved me from when, for whatever reasons, he decided to disobey orders. And why I'll be spending the rest of my life trying to repay that one, because it's not just for not killing me I owe him for, it's recruiting me into where he worked so I could get a second chance and learn how to be a person and not just a brainwashed assassin.
[yeah they've got SO MANY FEELINGS about this between the two of them.]
Sorry you've had the experience too. [She says sincerely. Even an attempt at control like that was too much.] Mind control or any kind of control like that isn't something I'd wish on my worst enemy. And there's no cure for the possession once it takes hold?
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when natasha finally finishes, alaina offers her a look of understanding. ]
I'm sorry you had to go through that, [ is what she offers at first, handing natasha a couple of sticks first to help feed the fire and get it to grow into something able to handle logs. ] I'm not from Ferelden, so I've only heard of what the Ferelden chantry's laws are about the Circles and mages. I know that the chantry kept a tight leash on mages and templars alike. A templar has to be injected with lyrium routinely to keep up their skills. It's... a mineral tied to magical power, so I guess it has some connection to the Fade. Weird when you think it comes from the underground. [ but whatever. weird is her life, especially now. ] But they become addicted, completely reliant on lyrium. When the lyrium supply is cut off... that's when the withdrawal sets in. The nightmares, the anger, the worry. I've seen it. I've seen it almost destroy a good man.
[ cullen nearly cracked under the weight of it. nearly. but he had listened to alaina because she was the woman dating him, the most important person in his personal life at the time. between her opinion and cassandra's counsel, he had reconsidered and stayed off the lyrium. ]
I'm pretty sure Corypheus has half of Thedas controlled by now. None of them are good dancers, though. [ ha. ha. moving on. ] I wouldn't know. I haven't heard of any, but I'm not a mage. That would be a question for Solas if he ever makes his way here. [ or if her door ever lets her go home, that'll be the first thing she asks him when she finds him again. ] For me, I was led through the nightmare by a helpful spirit. If he hadn't been there, I would have been lost.
[ and corypheus would have had his demon army, control of both the mages and the templars, and the death of the empress celene in a matter of weeks. days even. he would have won. because without the herald and the mark on her hand, no one would have followed the inquisition. ]
I'm on the opposite side from you. I have to teach the person who saved me how to be a person. He's tried for as long as he knew he could, does what he can to help people, but he doesn't understand it. Not yet. So I've been trying to help him help others and figure out how to help without ending people's suffering forever.
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[She says that with a small shudder at the thought of it. Bonus disaster points for being tied to magic -- strong mineral plus strong magic sounds a lot like something that would equal disaster. Which, apparently, it does.]
The closest I've come is beating mind control out of someone. [No, really.] I called it cognitive recalibration. [y..es.] But I don't know if that would work with the kind you're talking about. [probably not??]
They're lucky to have you as a friend helping them through that one. Was that the person almost destroyed by the lyrium? [She seemed to speak as if she had a close view of the person she witnessed almost being taken down by it, and Natasha thinks of it in the sense that the person she saw almost beaten by mind control was her closest friend, then there's a good bet that the person that saved Alaina from her issues was the same one who she had to see almost ruined by the magical drug. Because that's what friends do, drag each other out of hell a million times over. Such parallels here.]
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Right. [ the more alaina learned about the situation with the circles, the less she liked it. she'll never be able to really get along with vivienne because of that. vivienne wants to reestablish the circles, thinks they're the only way to keep mages from becoming abominations. alaina sees something else in them. she sees solas, dorian, even hawke, though she barely knows hawke. either way, alaina doesn't like the way the circles were handled. if some mages want to live that way, fine. but all of them shouldn't be forced to. ] I wish I could have saved them, but it ended up being them or the templars. I chose the templars for a lot of personal and professional reasons, but I'm glad I did. I only wish I could have saved them both. [ thank you, coryphy-tits.
thanks for the nickname, sera.]I don't know, either, but I think some would be willing to try if it came down to it. [ she wouldn't be surprised at all. some would be so desperate they would try anything to stop being something so feared. ] Some... if a mage is weak and susceptible to demon influence, they go through the Rite of Tranquility. I don't know how it works, but they're stripped of their magic and any connection to the Fade. It... also strips their personality and emotions. [ yeah, it's just as horrifying as it sounds. ]
No. [ pause. ] Cullen is the one going through withdrawal. He's one of my advisors. [ and also the man she's romantically involved with. ] Cole came to me while the envy demon had me. Cole was the one who guided me through and helped me defeat the demon. He's a spirit and he saved my life. When I brought him back with me, a lot of people wanted me to kill him just because he "wasn't real." They thought he was a demon, that there are no benevolent or helpful spirits, only demons. But no one will hurt him if he's under my protection. So I've been helping him. He has an odd way of thinking and speaking, but he's got a good heart. I don't see why he should be punished just for what he is if he isn't hurting anyone.
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Sounds like a lot of naive people, if they didn't want to give him a chance. [With that kind of attitude, it's no wonder that there are problems. Every world probably has people like that, though. There will always be judgmental people.] A good heart is a good thing, especially from what it sounds like, in that place. Helping him to adapt, you mean, after you brought him back with you?
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That's right. Cole... also has the ability to make people forget about him. He could walk by and you'd never know. He does things like leave fruit on the window ledges to attract flies which in turn attract spiders. Spiders build webs and webs can be used to help treat injuries. He once threw turnips into a fire. Got the smell of turnip stew all over Skyhold to make a dying soldier think he was home with his mother before the Maker took his soul. He's even started stealing the daggers off of our soldier's belts at Skyhold when tempers flare so that no one has a weapon to start a fight.
[ cole has some really odd ways of going about things, but alaina has seen what he can do, figured out his intentions. he means well and nothing ill has come of his actions, so... she's going to let him keep at it. ]
But to some of us he's real. I don't care what anyone says; to me, he's a benevolent spirit until he proves otherwise. He could have left me in the envy demon's thrall, but he didn't. He chose to save me and for that, I owe him my life. Thedas owes him everything it has and no one outside my inner circle even knows it.
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I'm guessing if people outside your circle knew, that might put him somehow in more danger than if it's kept quiet? [Also another unfortunate truth: People who do the most good often can't be widely recognized for it because of other outside issues and forces.]
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[ she's not even kidding about that. just look at vivienne. ]
Most don't believe that spirits are possible, that there are only demons in the Fade. Solas, a mage friend, taught me even before I became Inquisitor that things aren't always what they seem. Spirits exist and I believe Cole is one. Even though what I think is pretty weighty, it isn't enough to convince everyone. I'd rather keep his identity close at hand. I don't want to risk some other mage getting it into his head to try binding Cole. That would corrupt his nature, twist him into a demon. We can't have that.
[ she sounds very, very sure of herself, like the leader she has grown into being lately. her word does have a lot of weight and she knows it, so she's been learning to use that weight to her advantage. ]
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I have a group. There's five of us. We have some pets. Two pets. Can we come to your camp?
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[ to say nothing of how much of a savior, protector, and champion alaina is naturally. ]
Let me know when to expect you and I'll have supplies set aside.
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[ Well it's good that Alaina is all of those things because she's about to get five rag tag teenagers coming into the camp. Flying above them are two terrifying creatures. They might look like predators and that's because they are. But when one of the termite creatures gets close to the teens, the Night Terror sweeps down and attacks. These beasts are the 'pets' Adam mentioned. They're protecting the group of kids.
The third pet is a raven sitting on a boy's shoulder. The boy has a shaved head and a feral grin.
Upon entry, Adam moves to Alaina. He looks gaunt with dark circles under his eyes. There's a sheen of perspiration on his skin. His eyes are tired and very near vacant, as if he's only partly present. Adam is paying the price for the dream creatures flying above them, protecting them. ]
Thanks. Our home is being eaten.
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if they end up turning on someone, all bets are off.
she positions herself where she can slice into another of the random and very yucky, chopping into it with her greataxe and dispatching it easily. luckily, that seems to be the end of it and soon, alaina turns to the group, replacing her weapon on her back. ]
Glad you made it in one piece. I'm guessing these are your pets?
[ please say yes so she doesn't have something else to worry about. ]
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That ax looks pretty deadly though. He knows that if she can get to them, the blade could slice through the Night Terror's like a hot knife through butter. It's the getting past the talons and beak that's the problem.
Adam glances back to them and to Alaina again and nods. ] Yeah. Those are ours. They shouldn't hurt anyone... unless they're trying to hurt us. [ Ronan has learned to control them in that way, to cast his will into them. ]
They can help protect all of us.
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[ she's got a battleaxe and a lot of armor. they aren't the worst things she's ever had to face. right now, she'll trust adam's judgment and leave them be. she's got bigger problems as it is.
turning, she motions for them to follow her, leading the group further into camp. ]
Our food supply is cooking. [ spits and, with luck, pots or something similar will do the job fine. ] The cooked pieces are over here. The pelts are in a pile. They're all clean, so you can use them as covering for a makeshift tent or as blankets to sleep under or on. Make yourselves comfortable and if you need anything, let me know. I'll see what I can do.