[ She puffs out some sad little discs of smoke because she still can't quite get the hang of smoke rings. They dissipate into the air too quickly to be impressive. ]
I think my name means humble arrow or something like that. Sulahnan is the place of song. Singing place?
[ She passes the joint back and shrugs one shoulder. It's not important. ]
[ Richard can confirm. He even repeats the rough translation back to her in the similarly elegant, if markedly less succinct, elvish tongue of Tassia.
At whatever sound she makes upon the next pass, he finally does open one eye to take it back from her. ]
One of my earliest rationalizations was that we might simply have been transported to a continent rendered previously unknown by an immortal storm that has prevented anyone from successfully traversing our oceans, [ he says, and raises the joint to his mouth. ] But your stars are all wrong.
[ The cherry glows orange, and he goes quiet while he holds the smoke in. ]
[ The cost of speech is a laddering cough, each step wheezing dry until it banks off the crud in his lungs. He still takes one more short puff before he holds it back out to her, the better to busy himself with uncapping a water flask he has handy. ]
[ The joint is accepted back into Athessa's care with a frown. Then, quite eloquently, she inquires after why Richard would find such a thing more a shame for Loxley than for himself. ]
[ No answer. Richard sits where he’s sat and drinks his water and thinks or doesn’t think. Even high as balls, he’s a tough read, and it’s dark besides. ]
[ Athessa looks out over the wall and into the middle distance at nothing in particular. She really would prefer it if Rifters were just from a different, uncharted part of Thedas. ]
I wouldn't have to miss you when the Fade takes you back.
[ Do elves on this plane have darkvision? He looks over at her, surprise in a more critical read that requires only a very slight turn of his head. There is some guarded reserve in the subtlety of it -- doubt, even, that takes time to stir away on its own after he’s stowed his flask. ]
[ This plane's equivalent to elf darkvision is the tapetum lucidum in elven eyes. It allows elves to see in the dark with the same proficiency as a cat, and is probably a factor in Athessa's colorblindness.
But most importantly it looks cool because it makes elf eyes shiny in low light. ]
Of course. Why wouldn't I worry about my friends vanishing?
[ Wuh-oh here comes character development: Athessa has never once thought that the risk of loss was too great to justify befriending Rifters, even after losing a few in just that manner. Yet she has her heart broken once by a girl she liked and she's suddenly allergic to feelings forever. What an uncomfortable realization to have right now. Better to file that away for later. ]
[ More silence -- more speculative, this time, as Richard examines the sliver of green light peeking up out of his sleeve. The sliver of his shard is buried low in the heel of his hand, barely visible until he draws the cuff back to better see. ]
I hadn’t really thought about it. [ Sounds like an admission, matter-of-fact. ] Beyond the inevitability.
It’s not very different than traveling the world, is it? [ The little black slip of a snake has taken the pried sleeve as an invitation, and wound her way along his life line to lace between his fingers. ] Move on often enough and you’re unlikely to see the same faces again.
[ The snake has hardly had time to settle when he reaches to coax her up under his collar instead, casual as slipping a cigarette behind his ear. Back out of sight. ]
I suppose my point is that there are many factors and few certainties involved in -- [ he has to pause to search for a word that makes sense and is at least passably inoffensive within his weed-logged brain: ] 'cultivating' a relationship with anything that has free will. That they can travel back doesn’t mean that they will. That they don’t travel back doesn’t mean that they can’t.
There's always risk, even discounting the unpredictability of the Fade.
No guarantee they won’t leave or die or betray your trust.
[ Where is the joint? He leans and stretches to reclaim it, ultimately finding it easier to roll over onto his back in the process. Wherever and however he winds up, he stays and settles to toke there. ]
Well, I have yet to see evidence of any native to this plane, so in your position I’m not sure I’d concern myself with the distinction, [ says Richard Dickerson, knowingly, from his position of being laid out on his back on the rampart with one arm over his head and the other resting near the slowly darkening remnants of a roach. ]
Hmm, [ The stars are different, he said? Interesting. ] I dunno about the Maker or Andraste, but I'm pretty sure if the elven gods were ever real, they're either dead or they've fucked off for personal reasons, anyway. The stories about them are fine, and I'd still rather get buried with an oaken staff [ Dalish tradition, ] than burned on a pyre or turned into a mummy.
[ Her attention drifts, mind wandering... What was she saying? ]
I dunno what my point was with that. D'you think talking too much gets in the way of thinking?
[ Dick brings his right arm up as a rest behind his noggin, hazy focus wandering between the “wrong” stars. He chuckles again at her mention of mummies, strangely sinister, and brings the other arm up to hood his elbow over his eyes. ]
I think balance is healthy for beings who think and feel. [ He stifles a yawn into a stretch and settles still save for the regular rise and fall of his chest, not entirely unlike his little snake friend. ] Speaking too little gets in the way of sanity.
[ She hums thoughtfully, or just idly, because most of her thoughts are echoes of what he's said.
And then for a few moments she gets distracted by her hands and just looks at them, holding them above her face. ]
I like talking to you, [ She says, casual and genuine. ] I mean. For your sanity you could talk more, but. You're smart and don't make me feel stupid for being. Ya know. Kinda stupid.
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no subject
Date: 2020-07-07 10:02 pm (UTC)[ She puffs out some sad little discs of smoke because she still can't quite get the hang of smoke rings. They dissipate into the air too quickly to be impressive. ]
I think my name means humble arrow or something like that. Sulahnan is the place of song. Singing place?
[ She passes the joint back and shrugs one shoulder. It's not important. ]
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Date: 2020-07-08 05:36 am (UTC)[ Richard can confirm. He even repeats the rough translation back to her in the similarly elegant, if markedly less succinct, elvish tongue of Tassia.
At whatever sound she makes upon the next pass, he finally does open one eye to take it back from her. ]
One of my earliest rationalizations was that we might simply have been transported to a continent rendered previously unknown by an immortal storm that has prevented anyone from successfully traversing our oceans, [ he says, and raises the joint to his mouth. ] But your stars are all wrong.
[ The cherry glows orange, and he goes quiet while he holds the smoke in. ]
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Date: 2020-07-08 05:43 am (UTC)That's a shame.
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Date: 2020-07-08 06:10 am (UTC)[ The cost of speech is a laddering cough, each step wheezing dry until it banks off the crud in his lungs. He still takes one more short puff before he holds it back out to her, the better to busy himself with uncapping a water flask he has handy. ]
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Date: 2020-07-08 06:12 am (UTC)Huh?
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Date: 2020-07-08 06:29 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-07-08 06:35 am (UTC)I wouldn't have to miss you when the Fade takes you back.
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Date: 2020-07-08 08:03 am (UTC)Well we can be very charming.
[ Easy to see how they might be missed. ]
Is that something you worry about?
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Date: 2020-07-08 08:59 am (UTC)But most importantly it looks cool because it makes elf eyes shiny in low light. ]
Of course. Why wouldn't I worry about my friends vanishing?
[ Wuh-oh here comes character development: Athessa has never once thought that the risk of loss was too great to justify befriending Rifters, even after losing a few in just that manner. Yet she has her heart broken once by a girl she liked and she's suddenly allergic to feelings forever. What an uncomfortable realization to have right now. Better to file that away for later. ]
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Date: 2020-07-08 11:52 pm (UTC)I hadn’t really thought about it. [ Sounds like an admission, matter-of-fact. ] Beyond the inevitability.
It’s not very different than traveling the world, is it? [ The little black slip of a snake has taken the pried sleeve as an invitation, and wound her way along his life line to lace between his fingers. ] Move on often enough and you’re unlikely to see the same faces again.
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Date: 2020-07-08 11:59 pm (UTC)'Cept with traveling, you can always travel back. Nobody's figured how to do that with rifts yet, so it's more like dying, innit? One-sided death.
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Date: 2020-07-09 12:08 am (UTC)You walk the Fade when you dream, don’t you?
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Date: 2020-07-09 12:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-07-09 03:32 am (UTC)[ The snake has hardly had time to settle when he reaches to coax her up under his collar instead, casual as slipping a cigarette behind his ear. Back out of sight. ]
I suppose my point is that there are many factors and few certainties involved in -- [ he has to pause to search for a word that makes sense and is at least passably inoffensive within his weed-logged brain: ] 'cultivating' a relationship with anything that has free will. That they can travel back doesn’t mean that they will. That they don’t travel back doesn’t mean that they can’t.
There's always risk, even discounting the unpredictability of the Fade.
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Date: 2020-07-09 03:48 am (UTC)Athessa blows out an appreciative breath that doesn't quite make it to being a whistle. ]
There's risk even when the Fade isn't involved. No guarantee that people will stay.
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Date: 2020-07-09 04:18 am (UTC)[ Where is the joint? He leans and stretches to reclaim it, ultimately finding it easier to roll over onto his back in the process. Wherever and however he winds up, he stays and settles to toke there. ]
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Date: 2020-07-09 04:33 am (UTC)Is it better to not get invested?
[ That's only the entirety of her reasoning for only having casual flings. ]
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Date: 2020-07-09 05:08 am (UTC)[ Dick sets the joint aside on the stone, where the ember can chew back through the paper or fade on its own, and chuckles low in his throat. ]
The real ones, anyway.
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Date: 2020-07-09 05:28 am (UTC)[ Let the joint burn out. It was pretty much finished anyway. Athessa lays back on the low wall, one leg swinging lazily back and forth. ]
Never mind. That's a silly question.
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Date: 2020-07-09 05:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-07-09 08:30 pm (UTC)[ Her attention drifts, mind wandering... What was she saying? ]
I dunno what my point was with that. D'you think talking too much gets in the way of thinking?
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Date: 2020-07-09 11:27 pm (UTC)I think balance is healthy for beings who think and feel. [ He stifles a yawn into a stretch and settles still save for the regular rise and fall of his chest, not entirely unlike his little snake friend. ] Speaking too little gets in the way of sanity.
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Date: 2020-07-10 01:13 am (UTC)And then for a few moments she gets distracted by her hands and just looks at them, holding them above her face. ]
I like talking to you, [ She says, casual and genuine. ] I mean. For your sanity you could talk more, but. You're smart and don't make me feel stupid for being. Ya know. Kinda stupid.
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Date: 2020-07-10 05:50 am (UTC)We’re all stupid, [ he says, eventually, quietly, drowsily. ] It’s part of being mortal.
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Date: 2020-07-10 06:36 am (UTC)Wish more people saw things that way.
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