we can light it up }{ video; + action; OPEN

[considerdying]

Hawke has spent the last week debating between a desire to troll the population and an intense distrust of the little device everyone's been using. It just doesn't seem like a good idea in her experience. Just because nothing has happened doesn't mean nothing will. That is the law of Thedas.

Still, she's not doing well on her own, so after a while, she decides to try activating the thing just to see if she can find out what it really does. If it blows up in her face, at least she's expecting that. It's not very graceful when she finally does figure out the thing in her hand, but there she is in the barn with a few stalls and the heads of three particular mounts behind her, a frown of concentration on her face.

"--not entirely convinced this isn't a magical artifact. Possibly elven. Where's Merrill when you need her?"

She tilts the device upside down so now she's not exactly visible anymore. Well, her legs and boots are visible, but that's about it. Someone might want to help her out. Regardless, she keeps talking, like she expects someone to hear. Somehow.

"So what do I owe the pleasure of all the recent chaos? Not that there's anything wrong with how happy everyone is lately, but I haven't seen a group of people this excited since red came into fashion in Orlais. Shame about the Winter Palace. Its floors might never be the same again."

Who just hints at the Inquisition's uniforms that night and all the slave deaths plus the Orlesian Civil War in one go? Hawke did. Too bad no one will really pick up on it.

"And if anyone can tell me who these delightful mounts belong to, that would be refreshing. Must be someone strong to deal with these teeth and antlers."

Eventually, the feed times out, but Hawke can be found and seen walking around the barn, talking to the mounts she clearly knows are from Thedas.

Comments

[sempreadagio]

In Alaina's absence, Jill has been keeping her animals fed. She visits them in the stables every other day or so. Honestly, she misses Alaina. She was always good for conversation of the interesting kind and Jill doesn't usually make friends very easily.

This is why when she sees someone else with Alaina's mounts, it really bothers her. Without much thought, she immediately flips on the device and comments. "Those are Alaina's. You shouldn't be messing with them cause she could come back and she wouldn't like them being messed with."

Jill is at work. There's a wall of liquor bottles and beer taps behind her. There's background noise of sports TV's and conversation. But Jill just stares into the screen with her sad eyes like it isn't just Alaina who wouldn't like a stranger messing with the mounts.

[considerdying]

They do appear well fed, which also confuses Hawke, since she hasn't seen anyone else from Thedas since she first stepped into town. It's good that they aren't being left to starve, though.

They're going to have another conversation about that weird thing in the background. Jill might just attract Thedas protagonists who don't know modern Earth technology.

Hawke raises an eyebrow. "Are we talking about the same Alaina? As in Inquisitor Alaina Trevelyan? Short red hair, bright pink eyes?" Oh that would be great to see her friend again. Not that it's been a while, but... well it has. And the last they saw of each other, Alaina had been forced to make a pretty awful choice. Not that Hawke blames her, not fully, but she'll still miss her Grey Warden friend. Despite everything else.

Though if Aveline ever found out who she was hanging around...

[sempreadagio]

To say that Jill is surprised to find out that this lady knows Alaina's full name and title is an understatement. In fact, it throws her off so much that it takes her just enough time to be a little awkward for her to answer. She does eventually recover though.

Jill dips her head and pushes her hair behind her ears before nodding. "Yeah. Yeah that's her. She was... is... my friend. She just disappeared from here, like people do. But she could be back... eventually."

She looks back up to the screen. "You know her?"

[considerdying]

Probably a good thing that HAwke is used to this.

"Don't worry; if something happens here, I'm sure she'll turn up." For once she's not even joking about that. Well, not much. "Those heroic types never know when to stay away."

She says it like she's not one herself. Spoilers: she is.

"I don't know her well, but she's a friend. We've worked together and it was more of a nightmare than anyone expected." Pause. "Not because of her, but because of what we had to do."

Well, it would have been a good pun if anyone knew about the nightmare demon in the Fade. Sigh.

[sempreadagio]

Somehow Jill has no trouble believing that Alaina would show up if needed. In the meantime, Jill is wondering just how this woman knows Alaina.

"I guess you're both from that Thedas place. You worked together?" Saving the world and such. Heroics that Jill wouldn't have the first idea of how to be a part of. She's never forgotten that Alaina once called her a hero in her own right. Whether she believes it or not, the words and the intent behind them had held weight with her.

[considerdying]

"Something like that," Hawke agrees, with her typical dry humor. "A mutual friend asked me to help her once and we ended up running all over, interrupting everyday things like binding rituals and mass murder. It's all fun and games until someone summons a demon."

And convinces the only group of people capable of stopping the Blights to die for a cause that is not their own. Or a good one at all.

"I... take it Thedas isn't familiar to you. I haven't decided if you're missing out or just plain lucky." Pause. "No, you're definitely lucky."

[sempreadagio]

"No, I'm from a place called Alabama. And according to the stories Alaina used to tell, it was nothing like Thedas... kind of boring actually, comparatively speaking." Jill's life hasn't been quite so boring. But everyone has their own personal struggles.

"Thedas is like something we'd read in a fantasy novel or something." She adds for good measure. Alaina hadn't been turned off by that. But who knows what Marian will think of it.

[considerdying]

"I would take boring any day over red lyrium and red templars and Qunari burning the city to the ground and everyone hating mages just because they exist," Hawke comments. Really, boring Alabama sounds pretty good to her. No darkspawn, either. Perfect.

"You need better stories," she adds on dryly. "Hopefully happier ones, where not everyone ends up dead in some form or another. Got any pirates getting booty stories?"

A smirk crosses her face as she mentions pirates. Oh she can think of many ways to take the words "pirate" and "booty" that may or may not be related and may or may not be because of Isabela. It's all Isabela's fault for seducing her, though she knows her lover would say the exact same thing about her.

Reasons why Hawke fell so hard for her.

[sempreadagio]

"Only if it's on Halloween and a pirate is scoring some... booty." Which she knows is not the booty Hawke is talking about. But Jill just tried to make a joke out of it, a joke that turns out to be more deadpan than anything. Most people don't get Jill's sense of humor. Jill is laughing on the inside though, easily amused as she is.

She fills a pint beer glass with a light beer and sets it on a coaster in front of Hawke. "I guess I'm pretty lucky not to have all this crazy where I'm from. Usually this place is pretty nice too." Itinere, so far, has been good to her.

[considerdying]

Hawke snorts with amusement. She doesn't understand Halloween, but she's assuming it's some sort of holiday. Maybe involving pirates directly or maybe not. Who knows.

"I have a feeling I'd be more amused if I knew what Halloween was," she replies. "Is it a pirate holiday Isabela would be jealous about?"

Hawke twines her fingers around the glass, pulling it closer to see what it is. "I'd say you're luckier than a nug. None of Thedas is kind. I'm almost jealous." No, seriously. "So, if you don't have demons or mages or a crazy Chantry, what is Alabama like?"

[sempreadagio]

"First, Halloween is All Hallows Eve or All Saints Eve. It used to be a day to remember and celebrate the dead. But modern society has turned it into a day to come as you aren't, so to speak. People dress up in costumes and go to parties. Kids trick or treat for candy. It's generally pretty fun." She explains. But there's a more pressing question here: "Second, who is Isabela?"

How in the world do you explain Alabama? "Well, there's some really pretty forest land there. Lucy and I moved to a college town to go to college there. But my scholarships ran out and I couldn't keep affording it so... The Houndstooth is kind of my life now, the bar here. Kind of crazy how the entire bar as I remember it was brought here." She pauses before continuing. "Lucy and I usually lay out in the sun and drink or go to Alabama football games when she isn't at school and I'm not working."

[considerdying]

"Trick or treat?" Her idea of candy is vastly different, too. She may need to be educated about all of this, although if given the chance, she might just try to find a way to dress up as a Circle mage. In memory of her sister, Bethany. The thought of her sister leads to her mother and both memories sober her momentarily. It's a brief moment, a flicker more than anything, but there for Jill to notice.

The other question is much preferable and does a lot to drag Hawke out of her thoughts, her lips curling up fondly. "Isabela? She's my closest companion." In this instance, she doesn't just mean the friendship sort, but she isn't about to call Isabela her lover. Not that the entirety of Kirkwall doesn't already gossip about them. "You'd probably like her. She spent a lot of time in Kirkwall's tavern and she plays a fantastic hand of Wicked Grace."

That's something they could use around here. Card games. Hawke makes a note to find a set of cards to play Wicked Grace with.

The whole college and scholarships thing is over Hawke's head, but she thinks she gets the idea. It's money and that's understandable no matter where you are. "You're going to have to explain football to me. I doubt it involves seeing how far you can kick a rock."

[sempreadagio]

Considering the looks they're passing between each other and the way her and Alaina had had to work around a few of those experience gaps as they'd had to do, Jill is pretty sure that she and Hawke are confusing one another in almost every way. That's okay though. Jill is fine with working around it. That, and she's patient.

The way Hawke speaks about Isabella, well... Jill can easily read between those lines. She gets that. She and Lucy are the same way. They're together. They can always be with other people, but those people have always had to accept that Lucy comes with Jill and Jill comes with Lucy. To be honest though, it's Jill usually following Lucy since her friend is the more outgoing and flirtatious of the two of them.

"I bet I'd like her too." Jill says with a small, barely there smile and a nod. "Although we'll have to make a trade. I'll teach you football and you have to teach me Wicked Grace."

[considerdying]

Hawke is just as easy to teach as Alaina, although more humorously cynical by far. She just doesn't always show her cynicism. It's buried under all the witty quips and the sarcastic puns. Thedas is a cruel place to live on a normal day. What Hawke has been through would scar anyone. People are drawn to her, though. They know she's a hero, reluctant or otherwise, and she's willing to learn, even change her world view. If she were stuck in her ways and prejudiced, she would be no better than the mage-haters.

She refuses if for no other reason than because her sister deserved better.

Hawke and Isabela would likely not choose to really be with other people, mostly because Hawke has never loved anyone else and Isabela is too afraid to, but sex with other people? That seems to be on the table. Or, well, perhaps it was just because it was Zevran. Hawke was just glad to be there. That threesome was actually pretty fun. Still, her heart belongs to Isabela and she has a feeling Isabela won't be breaking her heart any time soon, captain pirate queen or no.

"Deal," Hawke says with a smirk. "Somehow I think that day will be a good one, provided we don't try combining them into Wicked Ball or Foot Grace."

[sempreadagio]

That makes Jill smirk. "We'll try not to get the two mixed up. Or maybe we'll get them mixed up for the fun of it just to see where it goes."

Yeah, she likes Hawke's sense of humor. It's very similar to Jill's own dry humor that so few people actually get. Sometimes Jill can think she's hilarious in her head but no one else is laughing. In fact, that happens a lot more than she would care to admit.

"You'll have to meet my friend Lucy. She's basically my Isabela." Lucy is Jill's always. Even when they're with other people. Which might seem strange to most people, their openness with one another. Some might even think it scandalous. But it works for them. It has for a very long time.

[considerdying]

"Take one rule from Wicked Grace and apply liberally to football," Hawke agrees. "Does that mean if you lose a...whatever it is you play with in football, you take off an article of clothing? I hear that's a rule in some circles of Wicked Grace."

Not that she's advocating it or anything. That would be more Isabela's thing. Jill doesn't have to worry about no one laughing at her jokes when Hawke is around. Hawke will always laugh. They seem to think along the same lines. That can only mean trouble for everyone else.

The corners of Hawke's lips curl upwards. "I think I can manage that. If Isabela were here, I'd have you meet her, too." But at the moment, she's still back elsewhere, waiting for Hawke to come back no doubt. "So is Lucy your pirate queen?" Hawke continues in what is obviously a joking tone. Innuendo completely intended.

[sempreadagio]

"Oh, now Wicked Grace sounds like what I know as strip poker. Which, yeah. That's a thing." Jill is thoroughly amused right now. And yes, she's played strip poker before, only when Lucy was around to egg her on because of the two of them, Lucy is far more outgoing than Jill. "Not so much in football though although I'm sure you could find a way to make that a part of any game."

She nods, imagining what kind of woman would capture Hawke's eye. "I'll hope she gets here for you then. Or, the other way around but I think Itinere would be less for the loss of you."

Pirate Queen? Oh Jill is so totally calling Lucy that. Yes. It gets a smirk from her. "No, but I bet I could make her dress up like a pirate in zero point two seconds flat. She's just my best friend." With benefits. And really, she's more than that. But Jill thinks that explains Lucy well enough.

[considerdying]

"If she were here, at least I'd know she was safe," Hawke points out, tilting her head slightly. Isabela had always been afraid to lose Hawke. Having them together would at least ensure that they each knew what was going on with the other. No loss without the other knowing. For better or worse.

Somehow Hawke understands. There's a difference between how Hawke feels about Aveline and how she looks at Isabela, how Isabela looks at people like Zevran and how she looks at Hawke. Best friend or no, Hawke can tell there's more to it and that words won't properly do justice to it. So she doesn't push. She just lets the corners of her lips curl upwards to show that she gets it.

"If you can get her to dress up, I'd say you're the queen," she says instead. "I bet she'd do a lot for you."