[ bro he is so fuckin tired actually, this was an ordeal and a half.
we are gonna say that jiaoqiu was brought here when he started showing signs of magic. his parents are rich folk who really cannot one, be assed to raise him anyway, and two, were horrified to have created a potential abomination. so jiaoqiu, who never really thought to leave because why would he when he is so obviously dangerous, has been here for years. he has to be human because I forgot elves are incapable of being rich in dragon age, but it doesn't matter so much because in some stupid mishap that he got into Mega Trouble for, he has fox ears. no tail, though. sometimes it feels like he does, but it's like a phantom limb. it really just makes it funnier to think about his friend from the fade, considering she had no tail either.
he is kind of a wuss when it comes to the templars, and hides when they come looking. but he has been trying to figure out how to use magic to heal rather than hurt, lately.
anyway. when he wakes up. there is absolutely no way that he is going to spill what happened, so he just looks over at the others, pulling himself up to sit shakily. are we besties for real, actually, are we like the scooby gang? ig that makes jiaoqiu the dog.
[Kaworu is a young human(?) child, raised entirely in the Circle of Magi. He was told that his father was an apostate who was imprisoned for dabbling in ancient and forbidden magic and his mother has never been mentioned so she is presumably an unremarkable mage. He was was naturally talented but kept isolated and raised in a detached manner by the circle's Enchanters.
He is new to Kinloch, having been sent there from his home circle to undertake the Harrowing. Kaworu is unusually young to be able to take this test.
When he wakes, he coughs at the smell of herbs and rubs at his face, only to drop his hand and look at it, remembering the touch of the other boy's hand in the dream. He curls up so he can move his hand down and examine his ankle, which is perfectly fine and not bleeding.
He feels sick and weak, having been frail from birth. He had not wanted to undergo the Harrowing at all. Like most things in life, it had not been his choice.]
It being done isn't the same as having completed it.
[ charlie is a young city elf, whose dad was a rare city elf noble. he was disgraced long before charlie was born, but having a mage as a daughter means he lost his standing wholesale ]
[ as such, charlie grew up isolated from even her elf city peers. they mocked her and called her princess, but she never lost her idealism and kindness, despite being a mage with absentee parents. ]
[ her mother disappeared (mumble) years prior, with no correspondence whatsoever. ]
[ also i think we should be besties ]
[ charlie wakes up in a cold sweat, but she immediately smiles and cheers the others on ]
Oh, come on, Kaworu, it is the same thing. And I'm sure you all did great!
as you start to shift and talk, there’s two other figures in the room. One is an older woman - you recognize her as Wynne, the Senior Enchanter and beloved Spirit Healer of the Circle. She’s a longtime resident and known as a strict, but patient instructor, and is especially fond of the younger apprentices. Right now she’s passing her hands over Kaworu, soothing warmth spreading as a greenish-blue glow from her hands - your aches and pains will lessen, and the pounding headache fades.
Her less beloved apprentice is also here. a young man, blonde, tall and skinny, apparently busy with something or other. If you glance over at the right moment, you might catch a glimpse of him shoving something into the pocket of his apron. You may or may not know him as well as you do the others, or Wynne, because he has a bit of a reputation around here. For escaping. Knight Templar Commander Gregoair often just refers to him as the headache. For some of you that might be exciting, or terrifying, or just plain boring, but it does make it so he’s been gone for long periods of time here and there. Either on the run or locked in the cells below the main floors of the tower as punishment. Right now though, he’s apparently been returned to his position as Spirit Healer here.
There’s also a Templar, clad all in silverite armor, standing in the corner. Watching all of you very closely, and clearly listening to your conversation.
Wynne smiles gently, putting a hand on Kaworu’s arm. ]
Charlie is right. I think being done is the same as being done. It’s good to see you all back - It’s so strange they decided to test all of you so quickly in succession.
[ from behind her, the blonde makes a sort of derisive snort. Wynne shoots him a look, but he doesn’t add more than that. ]
Congratulations are in order. You’re all proper Mages now. First Enchanter Irving will want to see all of you. Do you feel well enough to get up?
[we're definitely not besties, shadowheart is kind of a snob and rude, but she probably somewhat gets along with charlie at least; she's never really able to maintain being rude for long towards that amount of aggressive niceness directed her way, even if she acts derisive about it. but two of y'all are city nobles and one of you is a baby so she definitely has kind of a chip on her shoulder about being way more of an edgelord.]
I'm perfectly fine, yes.
[she definitely wasn't scared at all. she's been training for this, unlike some. she really does intend, eventually to get out of here in some fashion by proving herself. even if that hardly ever happens just because someone is particularly skilled, well, it could happen for her.]
[ jiaoqiu probably keeps to himself for the most part but he's not unfriendly - he's just kind of not really good at talking to people at this age, and prefers to keep to the background, offering help whenever he can. wynne, though, probably sees a lot of him just because he's so insistent on learning how to heal.
he's a baby about pain, which is why when wynne asks, he just kind of... sighs... but if everybody else is going to get up he can get up too. especially if the templar is staring at them. don't look at him, weh. ]
[Kaworu looks up at Wynn and then her hand on his shoulder. He's new here and not expecting that sort of gesture. Then he looks over at the apprentice. He's been outside the walls. More than once. Kaworu can't even imagine it but he longs to. So he dutifully looks away when the young man slips something into his pocket.]
[ charlie's learned to mask her pain, so she just gets up shakily, still all smiles. she greets the templar and the apprentice warmly, as she always does despite how they might act towards her, and naturally, wynne gets a warm greeting as well. ]
Oh, thank you, Wynne! I don't feel like a proper Mage yet, but... maybe that will change after we see Enchanter Irving.
[ she looks between her companions, trying to suss out how badly they're suffering right now ]
I think Jiaoqiu might need some healing, can you please help him too?
[ directed to both wynne and her assistant -- either or ]
[ Shadowheart is ... a bit of a gunner. Everyone knows the the type. She just wants it too badly, you know? The other apprentices gossip about it, not even bothering to hide it always. Ambition is a dangerous thing to have - ambition leads to missteps, to shortcuts. An ambitious mage is dangerous.
Jiao has his place - Spirit Healers are rare and to be talented at it is a rarely skill still. It's part of the reason that Anders probably remains unbranded (for now). There's a bit of hope in it too. If you can learn how to heal enough, how to make yourself useful and not put a target on your own back, they might send you somewhere. To a Bann's great house, or an Orlesian Court. Or maybe a battlefield, where healing is always a dire need.
Kaworu is an unusual case. He's so young to have been Harrowed, and that's apparent in Wynne's gentle treatment here. She'd only been 16 herself when she had undergone it. He's new here, and no one quite knows what to make of the strange boy from far away. No one's been quite bold enough to question him about the place he'd come from yet ...
charlie is such a nice and polite girl. she has such a good reputation, surely everyone will be incredibly pleased to know she's on track for Enchanterhood. She probably has a very bright future! Surely one of the Fraternies will be eager to try and recruit her now.
Wynne looks concerned at ALL of these responses by the way, and Anders is also turned from where he's been shoving herbs into his apron to roll his eyes a bit. because you're all fucking horrible liars and neither of them buy this shit. She'll pass her hands over Kaworu again and gesture for Anders to actually do some work, which he'll shuffle over to do - sitting down at the beside and summoning up that same glow and starting to pass his hands over Jiaoqiu, sinking some of the pain into the background. It only takes a few minutes. ]
[she doesn't give a shit what anyone else thinks of her. she isn't here to make friends. she waits impatiently for the babies to get their booboos healed.]
[ he makes a little grumpy sound at anders coming to look at him, but he doesn't protest. he probably does need to be in good shape in order to see the first enchanter, so he'll let himself be healed. when the pain has faded a bit, he nods. rubs a bit as his chest.
and tries very hard to not think about the fact that maybe there is something hanging out in his body that could get him mcmurdered by a douchebag with a sword. ]
[He nods and tries to wiggle off the table and stand on his own. Standing on his feet as a true mage. He tries not to think about it hurt to walk on his ankle in the dream.]
as he finishes healing you and the light fades out of his eyes, jiaoqiu, anders actually gives you a bit of a weird look. but he doesn’t say anything about it, except a nod in return for the healing. ]
Glad you all made it.
[ and then he’s standing up and going back to whatever else he was doing. wynne will give charlie a look and pass a hard over her too. Only Shadowheart is apparently a good enough faker to get away with this hardass act.
As you head out past the templar - he gives you a stare through the silverite helmet - and for whatever reason whoever is last to pass will find themselves tripping over a sudden armored foot in the way.
well, that’s fine. that’s normal. as you enter the hallway, you know your way around here. You are on the first floor, where the kitchens, laundry and infirmary are, along with the Chantry for the mages in residence. On the floors above are libraries, classrooms, storage, and of course the dorms. All the apprentices spend their entire adolescence crammed together with very little privacy. One of the main privileges of full magehood is a whole entire curtain to separate you from your roommates. Only the Senior Enchanters are granted something as luxurious as a wall.
You also know that below this floor is more storage, much more secure and difficult to enter, the cells for very ill-behaved mages are down there too, but also passageways most certainly crawling with giant spiders. Ugh. Yucky!
Templars are posted along the hallways, outside of almost every door. They’re all varying levels of attentive - one outside of the kitchens is almost certainly asleep.
The First Enchanter’s office is near the very top floor.
[she gets angry at the templar trying to trip them, it always makes her angry, but she knows better to say anything or, really, even act as though she noticed.
they were called to the first enchanter's office, so that's where she'll be going, at least.]
[The templar's foot does catch Kaworu 's foot and he stumbles forward, using his hands to brace himself against the wall. He freezes for a second. In his past circle, the templars mostly stayed clear of him. They looked at him like he was some sort of diseased animal, too unpleasant to touch.
He rights himself and then heads up towards the First Enchanter's office wincing a little as he steps on the foot that caught against the templar's boot. He was sent here for a reason, he thinks. Surely that reason was the Harrowing. So what now.]
[ power move, establishing kaworu as the one tripped ]
[ charlie reaches out a hand to steady him after she trips, and then he will also go to the enchanter's office because she is also a good girl. disgusting. ]
[ You’re all so well-behaved. You all make your way upstairs to the First Enchanter’s Office. It’s a lot way, and a lot of stairs. As you’re heading up, several others pass you on the stairs heading down - carting another mage between them and all yelling at each other. The mage in the middle is complaining loudly about a burn, and a Templar is huffing and puffing her way down after them, clanking all the way.
Irving’s office is grand, actually. One of the nicest parts of the tower, if it weren’t run down. He’s an older man with a heavy beard, and heavily wrinkled eyes. He’s been in this job a long time. As you enter, you can hear a muffled argument through the door. Not enough to pick out what exactly is being said, but it’s loud, and heated. Right as reach for the handle, the door slams open and Knight Commander Gregoair storms his way out - shooting all four of you a nasty look, and muttering under his breath about blood mages in our midst.
Hm! Well. that’s probably fine? You’re left with Irving in his office. ]
Ah, yes. You’re all here. I … wanted to apologize for such unusual circumstances. It seems there was a bit of a mixup on scheduling.
[ sure. ]
It doesn’t matter now, however. You’ve all successfully passed, and are no longer apprentices. You should all very proud of yourselves. Now, of course, we’ll need to discuss …
[ its a very long and boring speech. The point is, you get to move to the mages dorm, instead of the apprentice’s. A Tranquil - eyes dim and silent as the grave - is here as well, politely standing in the corner of the room the entire time and waiting for exactly the right moment, to be summoned. You all are given a beautiful lyrium ring, and new robes in the colors of full magehood, instead of the blues of apprenticeship, and then … off you go. To your every day lives.
You’ll likely be busy the next few days, with moving and recovering from your adventure, but as you settle in …
Jiaoqiu … aren’t you so much better than this place? You’re a talented healer, and they won’t even let you work in the infirmary. You’re an excellent cook. That’s a skill that not many have, you know. You can take care of yourself better than most people in this place. You can see. You can see yourself so many places now. On your own. Free.
Kaworu, it’s funny, you start feeling something under your skin that says maybe you … should get out of here. There’s so much world to explore, so many people to meet. It feels crazy, that you’d be stuck here, forever, with these same boring people. These same boring faces. You’ve been shuffled around to all of these different Circles meant to imprison you, meant to contain you. Like you’re some sort of puppet to them.
Charlie, doesn’t it make you angry? How forced into a box you are? These Templars do nothing but antagonize you day after day, night after night. You keep a cheerful face, a cheerful attitude, but it wears on people, you know? You feel it building in your gut, somewhere deep inside, an anger. Shouldn’t you deserve better? Some respect? You could really show them all. If you wait for the right time, the right place.
Shadowheart, you feel your own thoughts. Whatever those are.
That’s all probably well and good. What do you do for the next few days? Feel free to take some general actions. Who are you hanging out with? Do you do anything special? Do you try and go anywhere in particular? ]
[shadowheart feels her own thoughts, but that doesn't mean they're all that different. she also chafes at the restrictions, at being confined to this place.
she wasn't born into a world where she assumed she'd be captive for all of her life, though she was young when she left it. she doesn't have all that many memories of the clan she came from and she doesn't particularly feel any loyalty to the people who abandoned her. but she knows that there's a version of life that isn't like this, where she can see a world other than this small and very crowded one.
it's just that she's never been particularly brave, her bravado just a facade learned over time as a good way to discourage others from trying to hurt you. but as much as she dreams of being free, the shape those dreams take isn't escape. these are the only people she knows, the only people she has, and she wants their approval more than she wants to admit. she wants to be chosen, found to be good enough, given special orders, perhaps to fight or to see court.
she works hard, but she isn't all that naturally talented, and it never seems to pay off. she's always told she's not good enough, doesn't have enough control. but she's learned other ways of making up for her own shortcomings, and she practices that, too.
she doesn't have much time for the others, but i'm sure they wind up sharing spaces. she'll be assigned to assist the healers for a while and might see jiaoqiu. no particular talent for it, but it's a skill she knows she should have. she'll see charlie all around, always a busybody, or kaworu in the dorm. despite her attitude, she'll show a little concern or worry for them, if they're still having a hard time after the harrowing. after all, it is something they all went through together, and there's some camaraderie there for her at least.
as for what she does in particular, maybe she'd like to learn more about whether there are actually blood mages practicing here?]
[ i will say that, just like anybody, the tranquil really bother him. he's uncomfortable every time he has to interact with one because it'd just be... so easy to be that, he thinks. it'd be so easy to just give up all of his emotions. he doesn't want to. he just has the feeling that... it might be familiar, to sink into nothingness.
but over the time he's here, he's enjoying his new life as a mage. kind of. it's just that over time, he gets a little more annoyed about how he's being limited. he could help people, if only they would let him.
he does check on the others sometimes. jiaoqiu is a generally private person and he keeps out of the view of templars especially, but he sneaks the others food. he asks them what their favorites are, and he brings those to them whenever he can - not spicy versions, because he does have actual tastebuds in this universe, but just normal sweets or meals. if there's ever a point that they're too bullied by the templars, he takes care of them - wraps wounds or heals them, if he can. when shadowheart is with the healers, he asks her questions, he tries to get to know her - asks what her favorite flower is, what she likes to do. when kaworu seems particularly restless, he offers to talk. and charlie - of course he's always gotten along with charlie. who doesn't really. he shares meals with her and while he's quiet, he is always listening, always there to lend a hand.
as for what he does...
well. it starts to get to be a little much. he should be doing better. he should be out somewhere, not cramped and held in this tower. he tries so hard to make himself noticed with spirit healing - he asks wynne what to do, he studies hard. but he's still just stuck here, doing nothing. maybe if he can just force his way into being useful, his potential will be evident.
is it possible to sneak into the first enchanter's office? maybe he can assign himself somewhere, if these bitches won't do it for him!! ]
[Kaworu doesn't look at the tranquil. He used to stare at them when he was much younger, a baby, trying to understand their strange ways, only to be reprimanded or pulled away by the enchanters of the circle. He saves his stare for the First Enchanter. He's long learned that people think you're listening if you stare.
As he goes about his days... he struggles to feel anything at all. Being a true mage is neither happy nor sad. Just something else. Most everyone ignores him because of his age and he's often left to his own devices. No one looks at him, but everyone seems to watch him. Sometimes he misses his old circle, where they were content to just let him experiment and play with his magic for hours on end. He'd forget they were watching.
Jiaqiou will speak to him sometimes and Kaworu moves between having little words for him and too many words to even find the right ones. He'll acknowledge Shadowheart, sometimes trying to catch her eye during study. Charlie is someone he'll smile at on occasion.
But eventually, he starts to feel like he's suffocating. Like every circle is a smaller and smaller box they're putting him into until it's so tight he cannot breathe.
Kaworu starts to think about what life would be like outside. Wynn's apprentice had escaped, hadn't he? He's always been brought back for some short and glorious amount of time: he saw the world.
How does the escapist do it. Kaworu starts to investigate.]
[ it does make her angry, actually. seeing the tranquil. the way they're treated. but she shoves it down behind a smile. plays the role of good girl. she doesn't want to act out of turn, after all. she doesn't want to hurt anyone, or scare anyone ]
[ she, of course, tries to spend as much time with the other mages as possible. be that their little group -- trying to lift their spirits, keep them together -- or the escapist. trying to get to know him better. helping wynne out whenever possible. trying to get on the templars' good sides--- if only to try to convince them to be kinder to the mages. ]
Both Jiaoqiu and Shadowheart - Charlie and Kaworu too! All of you - are more than welcome to help with the healers. They need the hands. You treat all sorts of everyday mundane things that happen to mages all the time. A pair of scuffed knees from a Force spell sending a Junior Enchanter sliding across the floor to the riotous laughter of her students, ice from a scorned girlfriend who saw her lover flirting with someone else over last night’s horrible stew, an apprentice covered in horrible burns he’d obtained trying to set himself alight instead of living in this tower for even one more day. A Tranquil who was assigned to kitchen duty who had accidentally gripped a tray of bread from the oven without gloves and hadn’t noticed at all until his apprentice assistant had smelled the flesh searing and screamed. A heavily pregnant mage who is anxiously visiting twice a day seemingly more to spend time here in the quiet medical bay than out there where a certain Templar looks at her for far too long and with too much malice. A boy who complains of sore wrists from writing too much all day and then giving himself a migraine by insisting on doing all this feverish writing in low light.
Shadowheart, you do some subtle (or not so subtle) inquiries - and you’re met with several answers. Of course there aren’t blood mages here. Anyone she asks will be disdainful, dismissive of the very idea. In fact, it’s highly suspect you’re even interested! Though she’s probably deft enough to poke around without making too many waves. But … you aren’t stupid, or unobservant. You can see, especially now you are amongst the adults, there are certain groups that only hang around each other, huddled in corners of the library, or in the darkest shadows of the Chantry after everyone has cleared out.
No one will talk to you about blood magic, though one night you find yourself poking around the library and you see some rusty stains on the floor, some books shoved hurriedly back onto the shelves. You pull one down and a note flutters out. It’s in code, but it’s not a difficult one to crack. It seems to say not to panic. Just meet in the catacombs when it happens. When what happens … ? It seems something is planned. And soon.
Jiao you can definitely try and sneak into the First Enchanter’s office. It actually isn’t even all that hard, if you time it right. There are Templars guarding it, but you can spot them dozing off or wandering from their post a mile away. You slip in past the door the second you have the opportunity. There’s mostly just a lot of paperwork and mess in here. Irving is old and has held this position a long time. You’ve never been that badly behaved, so you haven’t been sent up here much to be sat in the low chair across from his desk and lectured on the virtues of good behavior, but you know others who have. Your strongest memory is first arriving here. You were young, but old enough to know what outside is like, what having a family is like, but they had so easily handed you over. In fact, they had seemed rather relieved to do it, to pass the burden of raising you off to someone else. When you’d first been brought here, you’d been dragged up to this office. Irving had been here, and he’d been so kind then, especially compared to the Templar woman who had practically dragged you by the scruff up the stairs and thrown you to the floor. `Don’t worry.` He’d said, as he’d pressed the sharp glass of the phylactery into your palm. `We take a bit of your blood to keep you safe. To make sure we can always find you, if you get lost.`
As you dig through the drawers, you find reports written by the Templars. Suspected blood magic, always, but what else is new. Still, there seems to be more of these lately, and the feeling is like something building to a fever pitch. And insistent requests for apprentices to be Harrowed faster and more at a time. They’ve been coddling you all too much, it seems. Funnily enough, these requests don’t come from the Templars, but from a Senior Enchanter. Uldred? Evil-ass sounding name.
Kaworu, life is difficult for one so young who separated from his peers. It makes you an outsider. You aren’t an apprentice, but you aren’t really regarded as an adult either. The boys are all a little too old in the new dorms, and the ones your age seem a bit frightened of you. But starting to investigate gives you a reason to talk to people. It turns out it’s not actually that hard to figure out how the escape artist did it, because he’s a loud-mouth braggart, at least according to the very annoyed girl you’ve cornered in the cafeteria to ask about it. Maybe she’s just mad she got dumped. Whatever! Hater.
Still, maybe it’s better to go straight to the source on this one. even if it seems like the source might be prone to inflating his stories with half-truths and exaggerations. Charlie is there too, tagging along to talk to The Source. Anders is easy to talk to, and charming in a kind of mean way, and tells you a lot about outside, which is mostly how muddy it is and how many dogs there are. Also, far too old for you Kaworu, sorry. But he’s more than happy to tell his tales. He claims he once swam across all of Lake Calenhad to escape, which seems insane. You’ve heard of other escape attempts drowning in the process, and he doesn’t strike you a strong swimmer. The more you talk to him though, the more he’s willing to share. He needs to make it to Kirkwall, you see. Someoone is waiting for him. He has a bit of plan for his next crack at it, you see. Don’t tell Wynne, but he’s been squirreling away herbs, powerful ones. Enough to knock out the entire Templar squad, if he catches their dinner at the right time. And then once they’re out on their asses, he’s heard the catacombs actually run all the way under the lake. Dry the whole way! A big improvement. Apart from the spiders.
Charlie, you also try and get onto the Templar’s good side … it isn’t actually that hard. They’re still humans. All, humans, for the record. They don’t accept elves in their rants. Still, not all of them are terrible. There are bad apples in every cart, right? And in talking to them, about their childhoods, their lives, you hear some interesting stories. It turns out, a lot of Templars start young too. Very young. Second sons and third daughters, sold off to the Chantry to lessen the burden on a family. Boys and girls from poverty stricken ratholes, seeking a life of meaning with the Chantry - and conveniently three meals a day too. You also learn, by hanging around them, a bit about the lyrium. They all take it - everyone knows that. It helps them to resist magic, to defeat demons. But it’s very … very addictive. Once you join the Templars, you can’t exactly leave, or they’ll cut off your supply. Lyrium is too expensive, too scarce, to get any other way. Funny, that.
You also learn that the Templars are all quite antsy lately. They feel something in the air. They can’t quite tell what it is. But a friend of yours, a young woman almost exactly your age pulls you aside one night and whispers in a hushed tone to be careful. Something is going to happen soon. ]
[she definitely knows better than to make obvious inquiries about this, yes. but she'll poke around and learn what she can. still unsure if she plans to use this for herself or if she plans to turn in whoever is responsible and use it for her way out. probably the former but the latter is a good excuse if she gets caught.
anyway, she will wait until it seems that something is happening and then meet in the catacombs.]
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holyspirits) wrote2025-03-23 03:14 pm
no subject
we are gonna say that jiaoqiu was brought here when he started showing signs of magic. his parents are rich folk who really cannot one, be assed to raise him anyway, and two, were horrified to have created a potential abomination. so jiaoqiu, who never really thought to leave because why would he when he is so obviously dangerous, has been here for years. he has to be human because I forgot elves are incapable of being rich in dragon age, but it doesn't matter so much because in some stupid mishap that he got into Mega Trouble for, he has fox ears. no tail, though. sometimes it feels like he does, but it's like a phantom limb. it really just makes it funnier to think about his friend from the fade, considering she had no tail either.
he is kind of a wuss when it comes to the templars, and hides when they come looking. but he has been trying to figure out how to use magic to heal rather than hurt, lately.
anyway. when he wakes up. there is absolutely no way that he is going to spill what happened, so he just looks over at the others, pulling himself up to sit shakily. are we besties for real, actually, are we like the scooby gang? ig that makes jiaoqiu the dog.
he looks at shadowheart, ears pinned back. ]
... We did it?
[ he expected to wake up dead! woah! ]
no subject
He is new to Kinloch, having been sent there from his home circle to undertake the Harrowing. Kaworu is unusually young to be able to take this test.
When he wakes, he coughs at the smell of herbs and rubs at his face, only to drop his hand and look at it, remembering the touch of the other boy's hand in the dream. He curls up so he can move his hand down and examine his ankle, which is perfectly fine and not bleeding.
He feels sick and weak, having been frail from birth. He had not wanted to undergo the Harrowing at all. Like most things in life, it had not been his choice.]
It being done isn't the same as having completed it.
no subject
[ as such, charlie grew up isolated from even her elf city peers. they mocked her and called her princess, but she never lost her idealism and kindness, despite being a mage with absentee parents. ]
[ her mother disappeared (mumble) years prior, with no correspondence whatsoever. ]
[ also i think we should be besties ]
[ charlie wakes up in a cold sweat, but she immediately smiles and cheers the others on ]
Oh, come on, Kaworu, it is the same thing. And I'm sure you all did great!
no subject
as you start to shift and talk, there’s two other figures in the room. One is an older woman - you recognize her as Wynne, the Senior Enchanter and beloved Spirit Healer of the Circle. She’s a longtime resident and known as a strict, but patient instructor, and is especially fond of the younger apprentices. Right now she’s passing her hands over Kaworu, soothing warmth spreading as a greenish-blue glow from her hands - your aches and pains will lessen, and the pounding headache fades.
Her less beloved apprentice is also here. a young man, blonde, tall and skinny, apparently busy with something or other. If you glance over at the right moment, you might catch a glimpse of him shoving something into the pocket of his apron. You may or may not know him as well as you do the others, or Wynne, because he has a bit of a reputation around here. For escaping. Knight Templar Commander Gregoair often just refers to him as the headache. For some of you that might be exciting, or terrifying, or just plain boring, but it does make it so he’s been gone for long periods of time here and there. Either on the run or locked in the cells below the main floors of the tower as punishment. Right now though, he’s apparently been returned to his position as Spirit Healer here.
There’s also a Templar, clad all in silverite armor, standing in the corner. Watching all of you very closely, and clearly listening to your conversation.
Wynne smiles gently, putting a hand on Kaworu’s arm. ]
Charlie is right. I think being done is the same as being done. It’s good to see you all back - It’s so strange they decided to test all of you so quickly in succession.
[ from behind her, the blonde makes a sort of derisive snort. Wynne shoots him a look, but he doesn’t add more than that. ]
Congratulations are in order. You’re all proper Mages now. First Enchanter Irving will want to see all of you. Do you feel well enough to get up?
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I'm perfectly fine, yes.
[she definitely wasn't scared at all. she's been training for this, unlike some. she really does intend, eventually to get out of here in some fashion by proving herself. even if that hardly ever happens just because someone is particularly skilled, well, it could happen for her.]
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he's a baby about pain, which is why when wynne asks, he just kind of... sighs... but if everybody else is going to get up he can get up too. especially if the templar is staring at them. don't look at him, weh. ]
... I'll make it. [ he says, shifting a little. ]
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My... stomach hurts a little.
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Oh, thank you, Wynne! I don't feel like a proper Mage yet, but... maybe that will change after we see Enchanter Irving.
[ she looks between her companions, trying to suss out how badly they're suffering right now ]
I think Jiaoqiu might need some healing, can you please help him too?
[ directed to both wynne and her assistant -- either or ]
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Jiao has his place - Spirit Healers are rare and to be talented at it is a rarely skill still. It's part of the reason that Anders probably remains unbranded (for now). There's a bit of hope in it too. If you can learn how to heal enough, how to make yourself useful and not put a target on your own back, they might send you somewhere. To a Bann's great house, or an Orlesian Court. Or maybe a battlefield, where healing is always a dire need.
Kaworu is an unusual case. He's so young to have been Harrowed, and that's apparent in Wynne's gentle treatment here. She'd only been 16 herself when she had undergone it. He's new here, and no one quite knows what to make of the strange boy from far away. No one's been quite bold enough to question him about the place he'd come from yet ...
charlie is such a nice and polite girl. she has such a good reputation, surely everyone will be incredibly pleased to know she's on track for Enchanterhood. She probably has a very bright future! Surely one of the Fraternies will be eager to try and recruit her now.
Wynne looks concerned at ALL of these responses by the way, and Anders is also turned from where he's been shoving herbs into his apron to roll his eyes a bit. because you're all fucking horrible liars and neither of them buy this shit. She'll pass her hands over Kaworu again and gesture for Anders to actually do some work, which he'll shuffle over to do - sitting down at the beside and summoning up that same glow and starting to pass his hands over Jiaoqiu, sinking some of the pain into the background. It only takes a few minutes. ]
Better?
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and tries very hard to not think about the fact that maybe there is something hanging out in his body that could get him mcmurdered by a douchebag with a sword. ]
Better. [ ... ] Thank you.
[ politely. he is a polite boy. ]
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Can we leave now?
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I think we're all ready... right, guys?
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Glad you all made it.
[ and then he’s standing up and going back to whatever else he was doing. wynne will give charlie a look and pass a hard over her too. Only Shadowheart is apparently a good enough faker to get away with this hardass act.
As you head out past the templar - he gives you a stare through the silverite helmet - and for whatever reason whoever is last to pass will find themselves tripping over a sudden armored foot in the way.
well, that’s fine. that’s normal. as you enter the hallway, you know your way around here. You are on the first floor, where the kitchens, laundry and infirmary are, along with the Chantry for the mages in residence. On the floors above are libraries, classrooms, storage, and of course the dorms. All the apprentices spend their entire adolescence crammed together with very little privacy. One of the main privileges of full magehood is a whole entire curtain to separate you from your roommates. Only the Senior Enchanters are granted something as luxurious as a wall.
You also know that below this floor is more storage, much more secure and difficult to enter, the cells for very ill-behaved mages are down there too, but also passageways most certainly crawling with giant spiders. Ugh. Yucky!
Templars are posted along the hallways, outside of almost every door. They’re all varying levels of attentive - one outside of the kitchens is almost certainly asleep.
The First Enchanter’s office is near the very top floor.
Where ya headed?]
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they were called to the first enchanter's office, so that's where she'll be going, at least.]
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also, jiaoqiu like that templar is getting his food laced with laxatives later.
anyway, he's a good boy and probably will go right to the first enchanter's office, yeah, but... the kitchen... it calls to him. ]
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He rights himself and then heads up towards the First Enchanter's office wincing a little as he steps on the foot that caught against the templar's boot. He was sent here for a reason, he thinks. Surely that reason was the Harrowing. So what now.]
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[ charlie reaches out a hand to steady him after she trips, and then he will also go to the enchanter's office because she is also a good girl. disgusting. ]
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Irving’s office is grand, actually. One of the nicest parts of the tower, if it weren’t run down. He’s an older man with a heavy beard, and heavily wrinkled eyes. He’s been in this job a long time. As you enter, you can hear a muffled argument through the door. Not enough to pick out what exactly is being said, but it’s loud, and heated. Right as reach for the handle, the door slams open and Knight Commander Gregoair storms his way out - shooting all four of you a nasty look, and muttering under his breath about blood mages in our midst.
Hm! Well. that’s probably fine? You’re left with Irving in his office. ]
Ah, yes. You’re all here. I … wanted to apologize for such unusual circumstances. It seems there was a bit of a mixup on scheduling.
[ sure. ]
It doesn’t matter now, however. You’ve all successfully passed, and are no longer apprentices. You should all very proud of yourselves. Now, of course, we’ll need to discuss …
[ its a very long and boring speech. The point is, you get to move to the mages dorm, instead of the apprentice’s. A Tranquil - eyes dim and silent as the grave - is here as well, politely standing in the corner of the room the entire time and waiting for exactly the right moment, to be summoned. You all are given a beautiful lyrium ring, and new robes in the colors of full magehood, instead of the blues of apprenticeship, and then … off you go. To your every day lives.
You’ll likely be busy the next few days, with moving and recovering from your adventure, but as you settle in …
Jiaoqiu … aren’t you so much better than this place? You’re a talented healer, and they won’t even let you work in the infirmary. You’re an excellent cook. That’s a skill that not many have, you know. You can take care of yourself better than most people in this place. You can see. You can see yourself so many places now. On your own. Free.
Kaworu, it’s funny, you start feeling something under your skin that says maybe you … should get out of here. There’s so much world to explore, so many people to meet. It feels crazy, that you’d be stuck here, forever, with these same boring people. These same boring faces. You’ve been shuffled around to all of these different Circles meant to imprison you, meant to contain you. Like you’re some sort of puppet to them.
Charlie, doesn’t it make you angry? How forced into a box you are? These Templars do nothing but antagonize you day after day, night after night. You keep a cheerful face, a cheerful attitude, but it wears on people, you know? You feel it building in your gut, somewhere deep inside, an anger. Shouldn’t you deserve better? Some respect? You could really show them all. If you wait for the right time, the right place.
Shadowheart, you feel your own thoughts. Whatever those are.
That’s all probably well and good.
What do you do for the next few days? Feel free to take some general actions. Who are you hanging out with? Do you do anything special? Do you try and go anywhere in particular? ]
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she wasn't born into a world where she assumed she'd be captive for all of her life, though she was young when she left it. she doesn't have all that many memories of the clan she came from and she doesn't particularly feel any loyalty to the people who abandoned her. but she knows that there's a version of life that isn't like this, where she can see a world other than this small and very crowded one.
it's just that she's never been particularly brave, her bravado just a facade learned over time as a good way to discourage others from trying to hurt you. but as much as she dreams of being free, the shape those dreams take isn't escape. these are the only people she knows, the only people she has, and she wants their approval more than she wants to admit. she wants to be chosen, found to be good enough, given special orders, perhaps to fight or to see court.
she works hard, but she isn't all that naturally talented, and it never seems to pay off. she's always told she's not good enough, doesn't have enough control. but she's learned other ways of making up for her own shortcomings, and she practices that, too.
she doesn't have much time for the others, but i'm sure they wind up sharing spaces. she'll be assigned to assist the healers for a while and might see jiaoqiu. no particular talent for it, but it's a skill she knows she should have. she'll see charlie all around, always a busybody, or kaworu in the dorm. despite her attitude, she'll show a little concern or worry for them, if they're still having a hard time after the harrowing. after all, it is something they all went through together, and there's some camaraderie there for her at least.
as for what she does in particular, maybe she'd like to learn more about whether there are actually blood mages practicing here?]
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but over the time he's here, he's enjoying his new life as a mage. kind of. it's just that over time, he gets a little more annoyed about how he's being limited. he could help people, if only they would let him.
he does check on the others sometimes. jiaoqiu is a generally private person and he keeps out of the view of templars especially, but he sneaks the others food. he asks them what their favorites are, and he brings those to them whenever he can - not spicy versions, because he does have actual tastebuds in this universe, but just normal sweets or meals. if there's ever a point that they're too bullied by the templars, he takes care of them - wraps wounds or heals them, if he can. when shadowheart is with the healers, he asks her questions, he tries to get to know her - asks what her favorite flower is, what she likes to do. when kaworu seems particularly restless, he offers to talk. and charlie - of course he's always gotten along with charlie. who doesn't really. he shares meals with her and while he's quiet, he is always listening, always there to lend a hand.
as for what he does...
well. it starts to get to be a little much. he should be doing better. he should be out somewhere, not cramped and held in this tower. he tries so hard to make himself noticed with spirit healing - he asks wynne what to do, he studies hard. but he's still just stuck here, doing nothing. maybe if he can just force his way into being useful, his potential will be evident.
is it possible to sneak into the first enchanter's office? maybe he can assign himself somewhere, if these bitches won't do it for him!! ]
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As he goes about his days... he struggles to feel anything at all. Being a true mage is neither happy nor sad. Just something else. Most everyone ignores him because of his age and he's often left to his own devices. No one looks at him, but everyone seems to watch him. Sometimes he misses his old circle, where they were content to just let him experiment and play with his magic for hours on end. He'd forget they were watching.
Jiaqiou will speak to him sometimes and Kaworu moves between having little words for him and too many words to even find the right ones. He'll acknowledge Shadowheart, sometimes trying to catch her eye during study. Charlie is someone he'll smile at on occasion.
But eventually, he starts to feel like he's suffocating. Like every circle is a smaller and smaller box they're putting him into until it's so tight he cannot breathe.
Kaworu starts to think about what life would be like outside. Wynn's apprentice had escaped, hadn't he? He's always been brought back for some short and glorious amount of time: he saw the world.
How does the escapist do it. Kaworu starts to investigate.]
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[ she, of course, tries to spend as much time with the other mages as possible. be that their little group -- trying to lift their spirits, keep them together -- or the escapist. trying to get to know him better. helping wynne out whenever possible. trying to get on the templars' good sides--- if only to try to convince them to be kinder to the mages. ]
cw: suicide ment
Both Jiaoqiu and Shadowheart - Charlie and Kaworu too! All of you - are more than welcome to help with the healers. They need the hands. You treat all sorts of everyday mundane things that happen to mages all the time. A pair of scuffed knees from a Force spell sending a Junior Enchanter sliding across the floor to the riotous laughter of her students, ice from a scorned girlfriend who saw her lover flirting with someone else over last night’s horrible stew, an apprentice covered in horrible burns he’d obtained trying to set himself alight instead of living in this tower for even one more day. A Tranquil who was assigned to kitchen duty who had accidentally gripped a tray of bread from the oven without gloves and hadn’t noticed at all until his apprentice assistant had smelled the flesh searing and screamed. A heavily pregnant mage who is anxiously visiting twice a day seemingly more to spend time here in the quiet medical bay than out there where a certain Templar looks at her for far too long and with too much malice. A boy who complains of sore wrists from writing too much all day and then giving himself a migraine by insisting on doing all this feverish writing in low light.
Shadowheart, you do some subtle (or not so subtle) inquiries - and you’re met with several answers. Of course there aren’t blood mages here. Anyone she asks will be disdainful, dismissive of the very idea. In fact, it’s highly suspect you’re even interested! Though she’s probably deft enough to poke around without making too many waves. But … you aren’t stupid, or unobservant. You can see, especially now you are amongst the adults, there are certain groups that only hang around each other, huddled in corners of the library, or in the darkest shadows of the Chantry after everyone has cleared out.
No one will talk to you about blood magic, though one night you find yourself poking around the library and you see some rusty stains on the floor, some books shoved hurriedly back onto the shelves. You pull one down and a note flutters out. It’s in code, but it’s not a difficult one to crack. It seems to say not to panic. Just meet in the catacombs when it happens. When what happens … ? It seems something is planned. And soon.
Jiao you can definitely try and sneak into the First Enchanter’s office. It actually isn’t even all that hard, if you time it right. There are Templars guarding it, but you can spot them dozing off or wandering from their post a mile away. You slip in past the door the second you have the opportunity. There’s mostly just a lot of paperwork and mess in here. Irving is old and has held this position a long time. You’ve never been that badly behaved, so you haven’t been sent up here much to be sat in the low chair across from his desk and lectured on the virtues of good behavior, but you know others who have. Your strongest memory is first arriving here. You were young, but old enough to know what outside is like, what having a family is like, but they had so easily handed you over. In fact, they had seemed rather relieved to do it, to pass the burden of raising you off to someone else. When you’d first been brought here, you’d been dragged up to this office. Irving had been here, and he’d been so kind then, especially compared to the Templar woman who had practically dragged you by the scruff up the stairs and thrown you to the floor. `Don’t worry.` He’d said, as he’d pressed the sharp glass of the phylactery into your palm. `We take a bit of your blood to keep you safe. To make sure we can always find you, if you get lost.`
As you dig through the drawers, you find reports written by the Templars. Suspected blood magic, always, but what else is new. Still, there seems to be more of these lately, and the feeling is like something building to a fever pitch. And insistent requests for apprentices to be Harrowed faster and more at a time. They’ve been coddling you all too much, it seems. Funnily enough, these requests don’t come from the Templars, but from a Senior Enchanter. Uldred? Evil-ass sounding name.
Kaworu, life is difficult for one so young who separated from his peers. It makes you an outsider. You aren’t an apprentice, but you aren’t really regarded as an adult either. The boys are all a little too old in the new dorms, and the ones your age seem a bit frightened of you. But starting to investigate gives you a reason to talk to people. It turns out it’s not actually that hard to figure out how the escape artist did it, because he’s a loud-mouth braggart, at least according to the very annoyed girl you’ve cornered in the cafeteria to ask about it. Maybe she’s just mad she got dumped. Whatever! Hater.
Still, maybe it’s better to go straight to the source on this one. even if it seems like the source might be prone to inflating his stories with half-truths and exaggerations. Charlie is there too, tagging along to talk to The Source. Anders is easy to talk to, and charming in a kind of mean way, and tells you a lot about outside, which is mostly how muddy it is and how many dogs there are. Also, far too old for you Kaworu, sorry. But he’s more than happy to tell his tales. He claims he once swam across all of Lake Calenhad to escape, which seems insane. You’ve heard of other escape attempts drowning in the process, and he doesn’t strike you a strong swimmer. The more you talk to him though, the more he’s willing to share. He needs to make it to Kirkwall, you see. Someoone is waiting for him. He has a bit of plan for his next crack at it, you see. Don’t tell Wynne, but he’s been squirreling away herbs, powerful ones. Enough to knock out the entire Templar squad, if he catches their dinner at the right time. And then once they’re out on their asses, he’s heard the catacombs actually run all the way under the lake. Dry the whole way! A big improvement. Apart from the spiders.
Charlie, you also try and get onto the Templar’s good side … it isn’t actually that hard. They’re still humans. All, humans, for the record. They don’t accept elves in their rants. Still, not all of them are terrible. There are bad apples in every cart, right? And in talking to them, about their childhoods, their lives, you hear some interesting stories. It turns out, a lot of Templars start young too. Very young. Second sons and third daughters, sold off to the Chantry to lessen the burden on a family. Boys and girls from poverty stricken ratholes, seeking a life of meaning with the Chantry - and conveniently three meals a day too. You also learn, by hanging around them, a bit about the lyrium. They all take it - everyone knows that. It helps them to resist magic, to defeat demons. But it’s very … very addictive. Once you join the Templars, you can’t exactly leave, or they’ll cut off your supply. Lyrium is too expensive, too scarce, to get any other way. Funny, that.
You also learn that the Templars are all quite antsy lately. They feel something in the air. They can’t quite tell what it is. But a friend of yours, a young woman almost exactly your age pulls you aside one night and whispers in a hushed tone to be careful. Something is going to happen soon. ]
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anyway, she will wait until it seems that something is happening and then meet in the catacombs.]
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