Meet Me in the Pit, Korrin edition

[gatheringstorm]

FORM: Sending crystal
SENDER: Korrin Ataash
RECIPIENT: Everyone/Also, private message for Adalia. 
WHAT: Looking for sparring partners.
WHEN: Now
WHERE: Gallows training area.
NOTES: Not doing a separate log, any action can happen in individual threads here. 

[Her tone is brisk, though not unfriendly. She's just eager to get down to business.]

Korrin here. I always love sparring with anyone interested, but now it's for more than just the hell of it. If you're not part of the Forces division and don't mind going toe-to-toe with a giant horned mage, hit me up. I swear I'm less intense than I look. 

Not that it should need to be said, but rifters are more than welcome. I'm always curious about what you can do. If you can pull a surprise out of your ass that'll knock me on mine, I'll buy you a drink. 




[Private to Adalia]

I have something different to ask of you. You're a storm mage, right? You have the same affinity with lightning that I do? 

Comments

[gatheringstorm]

Hey, of course. I can always make time for you. I'll be stretching over by the training area, whenever you're ready for it. And we can play it by ear, for how long.

[nadasharillen]

Lovely, I was just about to break for lunch. I'll bring you out something from the kitchens on the way, if you like?

[gatheringstorm]

You're too sweet. Sure, surprise me.

gonna just... drop into action here if that's okay~

[nadasharillen]

A bit later, Nari shows up with a biscuit held half in her mouth and her hands full with a cloth-wrapped bundle of the selfsame baked good and a small jar of jam with a knife stuck out of it.

"It'f fome of 'a win'her aff'l--" she starts around it, and then rolls her eyes with a hampered grin at her own unintelligibility, waiting to speak until she'd folded crosslegged to the ground near where Korrin's stretching and rested the bundle in her lap so she can remove the biscuit from her mouth. "It's some of the winter apple that's left," she says, tilting the jar back and forth at her Vashoth friend in an invitation to join her.

<3

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin straightens up as she realizes there's company and glances over to a small table where she'd placed a pitcher of water and some cups. Sparring is thirsty work, after all, and it also helps for washing down treats from the kitchen. She pours some water into the cups, then heads over to offer one to Nari.

"I can tell, just a whiff of that's giving me an appetite." Sitting down, she likewise crosses her legs and reaches over to spread some of that jam atop that delicious-smelling goodness.

[nadasharillen]

Nari's more than happy to trade water for jam and biscuits, balancing her half-eaten one (jam side up, of course) precariously on her knee to take the glass and raise it in thanks before taking a drink.

"Any worthy challengers thus far?" she asks, "or has everyone who thought about it been vaguely intimidated by your stretching and then caused to summarily flee when they realized you were also a mage?"

[gatheringstorm]

That gets a smirk out of Korrin, before she pauses and takes a bite, an appreciative noise escaping her as it's just that good. Keeping to some semblance of manners, she won't speak with her mouth full. After that and a sip of water to wash it down, she answers.

"A new rifter called Six; she seems pretty capable with a sword, and it was worthwhile to see her fighting style. It's more about what other people can do than my own skills, anyway.

And if Fenris hasn't seen this, I'll mention it to him since I bet he wouldn't mind some sparring. Why he's not in Forces anyway, I don't know, but it's a convenient turn of events."

[nadasharillen]

"A rifter capable with a sword, mm?" Nari raises her eyebrows at that, "It feels like a while since we had anyone rift in who was--" she raises the biscuit to gesture around at the world in general, "--from anywhere comparable."

The flaky bread is about to finish the rest of its journey to her mouth before she pauses and leans back instead with a distantly thoughtful expression. "What a world we live in now," the Dalish woman says, her tone changed entirely to a pensive kind of wonder, "Every day I go to work with a woman who uses silent magic and wields a sword made out of light, the hilt some kind of complex machination that's perfectly normal to her. A man comes by who does the same, and he talks about flying like it's less than nothing. I eat meals with people who have dragons for pets and come from a land where elves still reign." Her expression shifts to more of a helpless-- albeit fond-- disbelief.

"And then, in the mornings I, Nahariel, hunter of Clan Dahlasanor, go tend to a statue of Andraste that I carved, and collect and treasure small smiles like I might particularly eye-catching river rocks from a human, and I'm here eating biscuits with a lovely Vashoth in Kirkwall, and somehow remarking on it all like it's... normal." She shakes her head wonderingly. Then her brain rewinds slightly and she opens her mouth, closes it again, flushes red, and resolutely goes back to eating.

It's fine, Korrin probably didn't notice.

redoing this because Korrin's sharper than me

[gatheringstorm]

While Nari rambles, Korrin takes the opportunity to savor another bite or two, not realizing until then how much she'd needed the boost. How long ago had she eaten something, anyway? She nods along, a glint of amusement in her eyes at what passes for 'normal' these days. Or if not that, at least the shock of the strange has largely worn off, thanks to the constant bombardment.

And of course Korrin catches that. She's taking a sip upon hearing 'lovely Vashoth' and manages not to spit water everywhere, but has to cough after nearly choking on it. She lets out a breathless laugh, once her airway is clear. "'Lovely', eh? That's not something I hear often unless it's from the usual source. Usually it's 'fierce' or 'intimidating' but 'lovely'...that's nice." Her smile is warm and genuine.

...and wait, what? "A human? What human?"

oh no, safety revoked 8D

[nadasharillen]

Korrin splutter-laughing about being given the epithet pulls a delighted grin back onto Nari's face, even if it falters briefly into a wince when Korrin confirms she'd heard the other bit. "Never let anyone tell you you can't be fierce, intimidating, and lovely," she says, ignoring the question entirely, "at least not without afterwards putting their arse on the ground. In a lovely way. And speaking of," she says, perhaps too quickly, rising to her feet in a move more scramble than grace and dusting her hands together to rid them of crumbs before raising them above her head in a stretch, "let me know when you're about ready to put me on mine."

Pretty much any given person has a good chance of being able to tell when Nari's being cagey. Having never kept anything from Korrin before, however, her myriad little telltales will sound clear as a bell. Something's up.

[gatheringstorm]

"I think I already have, in a sense!" Korrin shakes her head after taking a good look, standing as well after one last bite and brushing herself off. She quirks an eyebrow, gently inquiring.

"You can tell me, you know. I won't...okay, I know I'm prone to snap judgments, but I'll cut that shit out. If someone's important to you, I'll listen." They better deserve her, though.

i love korrin s'durn much

[nadasharillen]

Korrin's rejoinder makes Nari freeze for a moment with her hands still in the air and then, suddenly, she laughs; it's loud and hard and bright and entirely unrefined, and she hasn't laughed like this in so long. Years. Not since before Sina was struck with the shard and her entire world had started to die at the same slow inexorable pace as her clansister. She looks like a plant discovering sunshine, and her arms pull down to wrap around her middle, her eyes crinkled by a broad helpless grin and shining with tears as the peals turn into breathless wheezing.

She sits down again because she has to, freeing one arm to gesture that her arse has, in fact, been put on the ground.

"In a lovely way," she croaks, raising a hand to wipe away the tears of abject mirth with a sigh. "And it's... complicated. In more ways than I could count on fingers and toes, but at the heart of everything it's good. I think." She says it with a quiet half-smile. It's not the grin from before by any stretch, but it's a happy kind of quiet. "Or it might be, someday. I don't know. I don't do this." Nari clasps her arms around her knees as she pulls them up, looks up at Korrin. "Tell me how you knew, with Araceli?"

<3

[gatheringstorm]

That burst of laughter is startling, but no less heartwarming to hear. Had she even heard anything like it from Nari, as long as they've known each other? Certainly not in the past several months, since Sina began to seriously decline. Her lips curve in a warm smile, joining her on the ground once more.

"It's always complicated when humans are involved, isn't it?" That's true regardless, but Korrin has to be certain that it's doubly so for a Dalish elf. So much bad history is tied up with humans, history that she's sure Nari knows by heart.

Taking out her dragon tooth necklace, Korrin stares at it fondly as she turns it around in her hand. "It wasn't all at once, like a bolt of lightning. We spent more and more time together, and her presence loomed so large in my life that whenever we were separated...I ached. Life wasn't as sweet without her around, and when I realized that...there was no going back."

[nadasharillen]

Humans making things complicated is met with a firm nod and a briefly quirked eyebrow: sing it, sister.

"You know, I used to know exactly what to do with them." Nari says, miming a quick stabbing motion with a wry grin. It's followed by her pinching the bridge of her nose, "My erstwhile clansisters certainly hadn't forgotten." Although Sedi had only put two holes in him, and he was still alive. What restraint!

She rests her head on her arms to listen to Korrin talk about Araceli, her smile small and warm. The two women had been together like sea and sky ever since she'd known the mage, the warmth and affection between them hanging in the air like sunbeams filtering through branches, the lines of light near solid enough to reach out and touch.

She'd smiled to have been let to see it, but it had never once crossed her mind to want to be part of anything like that. She wouldn't have even known how to begin to want that. Hadn't known. But then in the dark and quiet and uncertainty of her fever vigil some foreign feathered thing had fluttered in her chest and had refused to stop the fragile beating of its wings until she'd loosed it with her fingers in his hair.

It occurs to her that Korrin has stopped talking and she's just staring into nothing, so she quirks an apologetic smile. "You're beautiful together, and the way it happened is... better than lightning, I think."

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin smirks at the stabbing motion, naturally unsurprised with what she's learned about Dalish in general and some clans in particular. Some certainly have cause to attack first and ask questions later, if ever. Nari's smile is infectious, and she nods, slipping an arm over her friend's shoulders for a companionable squeeze.

"Me, too. Some of the best things, you just can't plan. They sneak up on you, when you least expect them.

...and wait, what? There was a scuffle with your clan? What happened?"

[nadasharillen]

“Oh, it—“ Nari bites her lip, looking deeply chagrined that she’d let something slip, “I’ve not told anyone who didn’t absolutely need to know. I don’t want people to think even worse of us, although honestly,” she says, her tone turning bitter, “most already think of us as tattooed savages and would be more surprised to hear we’d not stuck an arrow in someone. I just...” She sighs and ruffles a hand in her hair, leaning her head against Korrin briefly before sitting up again. “Don’t want to be the one to hand them any more stones to throw.”

But it was Korrin, and Korrin cared about her if not the People. Surely she wasn’t about to pass arrows along to anyone who’d shoot them. “Short version is we went to the Planasene for what was meant to be a hunting trip,” she snorts quietly with wry amusement, “which I guess it was, we just weren’t expecting to be on the quarry side. The hunters were farther east than I thought they’d ever be, and we got caught out by the two worst possible of them. It was a near thing... although if they’d meant him dead he would have been.”

[gatheringstorm]

Frowning in concern, Korrin remains silent as she listens to Nari's disturbing account of what happened. She scoots a little closer to slip an arm around her friend's slighter shoulders, trying to be comforting even as her hackles rise at the thought of Nari being hunted in such a fashion.

"I don't doubt that. So, they'll tell the rest of the clan what happened. What does that mean for you?"

[nadasharillen]

"I... well. My family knows already, they're the reason we came back. As far as the rest of the clan?"

She hadn't actually thought about that yet; when she speaks it's halting. "I don't know. I... Creators." Nari huffs a breath through her nose. "They won't take it well, most like. I wouldn't have, before I came to the Inquisition. Especially since we lost the pair of hunters over it. I think they'd take me back, if I went, but I don't know if I'd ever truly live down having caused that kind of conflict within the clan over a human."

Nari ruffles her hair again and looks simultaneously amused and incredulous. "A devoutly Andrastian human. Who used to be a Templar. Maybe they won't let me come back."

She's mostly joking.

[gatheringstorm]

Joking aside, Korrin's concern doesn't fade and she gives her a gentle squeeze. "Your clan's been through a lot, I guess I can see why they'd react the way they did. Still, you've been through a lot, too. I hope they keep that in mind, because you damn well deserve some consideration, too."

...wait. "Used to be--" She blinks, then her eyebrows raise as she glances down. "Do you mean Cade?"

[nadasharillen]

Belatedly, Nari realizes that there aren’t too many other erstwhile Templars (any?), so she oughtn’t be surprised Korrin guessed. Even so, she goes a bit pink in the time honored tradition of having someone ambush you with the name of someone you’ve been thinking of.

“Yes?” she responds in a cautious drawn out way that doesn’t quite end in a squeak.

Good going, Nari. You broke her.

[gatheringstorm]

For a moment, Korrin just stares blankly. It's not often she's reduced to speechlessness, but she's barely spared a thought for Cade other than to roll her eyes at his uptightness or seethe at the way he'd treated Beleth. That he would manage any sort of involvement with anyone (a copy of the Chant and his own hand didn't count), let alone a dalish elf, let alone Nahariel...well, it's a lot to take in at once.

I actually spat out my tea :’D

[nadasharillen]

“I’ve... had my revenge?” ventures Nari, as Korrin adopts a look much like someone unexpectedly put on their arse might. She’s not sure it’s lovely though; that kind of stare usually means there’s something the starer’s trying to work through, and she’s pretty sure it’s not the part where he’s human.

...The incredulous way she’d said his name makes Nari think it’s not the religious part or the Templar part either.

[gatheringstorm]

That prompts a burst of laughter that snaps Korrin out of her shock, those broad shoulders shaking with the force of it. She tries to stop and explain herself, but it takes a few tries before she can calm herself enough for coherency. "You definitely did! Andraste's shapely ass, I did not see that coming.

...did you know we were tent-mates, in Emprise du Lion? He walked in on me changing and I pretty much never saw him after that. My boobs were that powerful."

[nadasharillen]

Korrin's arm wrapped around her shoulders as it is the laughter shakes Nari as well, prompting the return of her grin and a chuckle at the story. "I'm not surprised in the slightest," she says. After all, she fuzzily recalls pulling off her frozen tunic under a blanket at Kit's at the Medicine Seller's instruction and catching a glimpse of the man facing a corner with his ears fit to catch fire. It makes her grin a little wider.

"I can't say I understand," she says, "we didn't care much about it back home, especially not for reasons like changing after work or hunt, or finding a particularly nice stream on a hot day, but... I think it's kind of sweet."

...and made her blush to have it mean something.

"That and you do have a powerful bosom," she adds cheekily, "Araceli's a strong woman."

[gatheringstorm]

She trails off into an amused snort, shaking her head. "Not that strong, she was on her way in just as he was on his way out."

Then her smile fades as she gazes at Nari, thoughtful yet wary. "The last I heard about him, he...wasn't that stable. Has he changed? Is he good to you?" She knows Nahariel can take care of herself, really, but she can't help herself.