therookery | o1 ♚ especially coffee

FORM: Sending crystal
SENDER: Marcel Gerard
RECIPIENT: Public; any and all interested
WHAT: A Rifter would like to futilely inquire as to the incomprehensible physics of Rifting and seek actually unavailable instruction w.r.t. how to get the Hell back home, please and thanks.
WHEN: Timing (backdated, covering a span, etc.)
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: Maybe P3-13 for language? If somebody gets emotional!

Good morning, Thedas.

[By now, the name of the world sounds comfortable enough in his mouth, but his accent is likely remains somewhat Other, cutting the consonants of his deep voice.] My name is Marcel Gerard. In the world I come from, magic is a secret pretty well-hidden from humans, and the full strength of abominations waits every month on the full moon. [Sorry, werewolves. Somebody hates you.] We also have horseless carriages, ballet, instant coffee, and the Internet. The world is called New Orleans. If you know what any of that means, we should talk.

And if you don't, you might be just the person to help me get home. You got thoughts on how to prolapse a Rift? I want to hear 'em. Talk to me.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I don't know what any of those things are apart from coffee but not whatever instant is? [Like does someone just appear with coffee before you even ask for it?] Oh and ballet, we have ballet. I came through a rift almost three months ago.

[There's a pause as if she's done but then because it's still freaking her out-]

Abomination is a sensitive word to use right now.

Hello, stranger, [Marcel says, after only the briefest pause.] Instant works faster. Looks like powder instead of beans. Drop some hot water in, and you got it.

By sensitive, you mean somebody thinks they aren't real? Or that's too hard a word?

You know some things are better off not rushed but then again, I am talking to a man... [Only she says it lightly enough for it hopefully to be considered teasing, it's the main downside to the sending crystal that you only have a voice to judge and not a face.]

The attack here destroyed the gardens, terrified many and we don't know how things will land with the mages and templars, everyone coming back here will be coming back to a home attacked. [Again. So many of them present from the start had been based in Haven too.] Someone lost their life, the person that...that thing was before.

[There's a low laugh for the joke at his manhood's expense. Marcel can take a joke. Frankly, it's kind of nice to think that some themes pervade through space and time and weird medieval dimensions fraught with creepy magical warfare. He stops laughing to answer, though.]

I see. I get it. Or-- [a beat.] Something like it. There a word that people out here prefer to use?

[Honestly, it feels good to laugh about something at all, it's been too long since she's felt like her old self but she'll pass along whatever advice she can to someone in the same boat.]

I think they use the specific thing that they mean, if that makes sense? I know right now that an abomination is what can happen to a mage if a demon is possessed and not so long ago all of us with marks on our hands were branded as potential demons. Even now I've been called one.

There's a woman-- Ariadne who's warning me of exactly that.

[Concern tightens his voice, but just a little. Marcel-- like the rest of his family, is characterized by borderline dangerous levels of confidence.]

I was referring to the possessed, myself. We have a parallel to that in my world and time. [EXCEPT NOT REally he's just biased. It's fine. It'll be fine until an indignant werewolf Rifts in.] But I get you. Who says these things? Any particular-- faction?

I thought things were going to be better since the Mire but I made the mistake of mentioning something home and being called a demon. As the person looked at me as if I was going to eat them or worse.

[Laughable actually given that he was close to a foot taller than her but it’s not as if the sending crystal conveys more than a voice as she sighs, muttering under her breath. It still pisses her off when she thinks about it.]

I think it still depends on the type - if it’s a mage possessed by a demon, abomination, but for instance, a dead body possessed by a spirit? Walking corpse. Or just undead. As for us, I would say that the mages might show more trust because we have magic in our hands. The templars are the ones you have to watch, it was a high-ranking one in the past here who started all the demon talk.

[Also one teenage boy with horns but she’ll let that slide because that’d be mean and she’s not so petty.]

...I'll have to keep that in mind.

[For a moment, Marcel wants desperately to ask for names. Also for pics, but you know, that isn't happening anytime soon around here. It's good to know what bears one ought to be poking, or-- not poking, as the case may be for those of us who have any sense of prudence. However, he suspects that it could be incriminating for both of them were he to press the point too hard on these shiny rock communiques.]

That's a solid breakdown. I hope it didn't come to blows, with whoever that was. Who am I thanking?

We have to tread lighter than most still.

[Normally not a problem but when you don't know what you're stepping in? Much harder. Hopefully it's a youthful mistake and that when things calm down again a lot will get better, or, given the reports coming back, they'll be desperate and grateful for help and the remarks will cease.

At least to her face, she can handle talk behind her back but demon stings like a slap.]

I decided to take the very literal higher ground, they happen to be close to someone I care for and such things can get ugly quickly. And I am Araceli Bonaventura, at your service.

[Marcel spares a split-second to appreciate that, indeed, having anybody he cares about here would complicate matters considerably.] Thanks, Araceli, [he says.]

Sounds like you did what was right for you and yours, and I have nothing but respect for that. [it's a hard lesson to learn. pride and wrath have gotten him and his in trouble before. lives ended, lives ruined, that kind of a thing. from the sounds of things, the inter-faction tension out in skyhold is close to what he left behind in new orleans— on a greater scale, even.]

I'm going to do that. Tread lightly. Is there a safe place for us? Anywhere that Rifters tend to come together, something like that.

She rescued me from a demon so I think I owe it to her not to let my temper get the best of me. [And she does manage to laugh a little because here? Blank slate. No one to tell tales about how quickly and easily she sometimes loses her temper when the red mist descends.]

Unfortunately, no. The mages have their own council but they weren't prepared for us at all and everyone else arrived when we were dealing with scouts going missing, corpses, other awful things. It would be a good idea though, even just to share what we've all learned.

[But the mages have the good space and the tavern is less than suitable, at least for people meeting quietly and trying to share something that might be very difficult.]

Perhaps it'd be worth asking about to find if there's a place and time we could steal a room for, even down in the lower levels.

[What if we get bugged, Marcel wants to say, but that seems like a profoundly anachronistic concern to have. Besides, with compulsion at his disposal, he can handle most security concerns easily enough. The question is only getting away with it.

Easy answer: even more compulsion!]

I can look into it, [he offers.] I'm looking at doing some day labor, maybe see if they'll let me help with the numbers too. [Already, he's figured out that having an education is rare in these parts; an asset he intends to capitalize on.] Can I ask who your friend is, the one who saved you?

[Please don't get them into trouble - or at least look at the cells. Because that's going to be one cold and wet climb before sliding right down the mountain.]

Keep in touch, I'm usually around doing whatever needs doing. [Translation: scaring people on the battlements running errands or getting under the feet of the kitchen staff when she's not in the tavern.] As for my rescuer, her name is Korrin Ataash, trust me, you can't miss her. [No one can miss a mage or a tall grey horned person after all, certainly not one as striking as Korrin.]

[Marcel parses 'whatever needs doing' correctly. Odd jobs. He got a lot of drifters through New Orleans doing the same.] Thanks. Good to know who the allies could be, when we got this many people trying maybe to burn us at the stake.

o1 ♚ especially coffee

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