voice; you're everything a big bad wolf could want.

[eviscerates]

FORM: sending crystal
SENDER: Ruby Lucas
RECIPIENT: open to anyone with a crystal
WHAT: a discussion of folklore and fairy tales
WHEN: cuurreennttt? current.
WHERE: Skyhold! She just got back from Orlais.
NOTES: Nothing particular comes to mind, potentially dark themes because fairy tales are terrible sometimes? Please chuck warnings in subtitles, if there's anything potentially triggering.

Hey, everyone. This is Ruby Lucas. This is going to possible devolve into discussions of fairy tales and folklore and all that kinda stuff, so if that's not your thing then... fair warning. I don't think there'll be anything urgent in here, Inquisition-wise.

So, basically I just wondered if there are any fairy tales and stories that you're really fond of, or that you connect with. Not just Thedosian ones, either, if you're a rifter I want to know. There's a lot of interesting stuff I've picked up about them, over the years. Some of them have a basis in... fact? Or reality, I guess, though maybe not always our own reality, if that makes sense.

Anyway, this is pretty whimsical. If anyone knows any versions of Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, though, I'd be especially interested. Anything about wolves, generally, to be honest, werewolves included. Kind of my thing. Not... ( a hesitation, and her tone becomes a little more serious: ) Not so much the Boy Who Cried Wolf, though. I've heard a lot about that one.

Um, and for those of you that I've spoken to about that project, it's still in the works. Fear not, it will happen and it will be wicked awesome.

Comments

[byblow]

What's a fairy?

[ He sounds a little more subdued than usual, because LELIANA HAS BEEN POISONED among other problems, but there's no harm in having a distraction for the road. And that new word aside, he gets what she's asking. ]

I could tell you about Dane, if you haven't heard that one. Or about there werewolves in the Brecilian Forest, but that one isn't a story.

[eviscerates]

They're magical beings. They can be super small, or they can change so they're human sized. Usually they have wings, sort of like butterfly wings? Um... in my world specifically they can grant wishes and are part of an order with rules and stuff, they work with fairy dust. Randomly, they also tend to have a colour theme. Blue, green, pink, you get the idea. Mostly they're considered to not be real, and even in a world where they are it's pretty unusual to meet one.

There was probably a more concise way to say that, but-- yeah. And I'd love to hear about Dane and about werewolves, actually. Whichever you'd rather talk about.

( heeeee doesn't sound happy but she also doesn't know him well enough to call him on it. They only spoke the once, and she's trying to remember how he sounded last time. )

[byblow]

That's--that sounds adorable.

[ Which is surprising. He generally expects everything to be terrible anymore. ]

Dane was an Alamarri hunter in--I suppose it would have been the Divine Age. Half of Ferelden says they're descended from him. One of the stories is that he killed a white hart and the werewolves came for him, and made him repay them for taking the hart from the woods by trading places with one of them for a year and a day.

After that he led a campaign against them, as it goes, and that's why they aren't so much of a problem anymore. When hearts are wagered, a fissure rent. I remember that part.

[eviscerates]

They're kind of adorable, sometimes. However, Blue is a very effective leader, and kind of a force of nature, in her way. She might be too intense to be adorable, but she's pretty great. Tinker Bell's definitely adorable, though. I like her.

( They haven't met all that many times, but one someone comes to Granny's diner they always come back. The pie is amazing. )

The Divine Age... ( She has to think for a moment, and there's a rifling sound. Someone has a book, and someone is going through it. ) That was just after the Ancient Age, right?

Were-- were werewolves a problem before?

[byblow]

Tinker Bell, [ Alistair repeats, soundly faintly amused (in a sad, recently poisoned sort-of friend way) and not so faintly prompting. He doesn't have any room to judge, really, but please. Explain. ]

Yes, the first named age. Everything before it was Ancient and doesn't count. [ He's joking. ] And that's what they say. I wasn't there, you know. Maybe the werewolves just wanted to feed their families like anyone else.

[rowancrowned]

Why all the wolves? Are they important to your people?

[ it seems to him there's a theme here. ]

[eviscerates]

Honestly, they aren't all that important to people in my world generally. In stories they get used symbolically, I guess. They're usually representing something bad.

( She's been slow to be open about this, but she's trying to be better about it, now. Enough people have seen it that it's more like an open secret, anyway. )

They're important to me because I am one. Or... I'm part-human and I'm part-wolf, it really depends what makes it easier to get your head around it.

[rowancrowned]

I see.

[ different worlds. he understands that. but he's seen her, so: ]

Which parts are wolf, and which are woman?

[eviscerates]

Depends on the time. Right now, physically, I am... entirely woman. When I change, I'm entirely Wolf. But I'm also kind of the Wolf and the woman all the time? The Wolf instincts are always there, and I can hear and smell better than any human, but... I'm human. Just more than human, like I'm more than a Wolf when I change.

Does that makes any kind of sense?

[rowancrowned]

No.

[ she's clearly had to explain before, but- there are gaps, likely cultural. ]

Why do you hold so tight to 'human'?

[eolasemah]

The Big Bad Wolf? Like the Dread Wolf?

[eviscerates]

I'm not familiar with the Dread Wolf, actually. The... I guess the Wolf is kind of a thing in some stories. Recurring antagonistic sort of figure, though they aren't actually all connected.

[eolasemah]

Well... although there are stories of Fen'harel, they are not... what is it you called them? Fairy stories. He was kin to the Creators and the People, and....

[She hesitates for several long moments.]

It seems wrong to speak of it without knowing who's listening.

[She's a bit more accepting of shem'len curiosity these days, but too much of their own ways are used as ammunition against the Dalish. Perhaps it's best to relegate such topics to private conversation.]

private.

[eviscerates]

Of course. Um-- ( she's switched the conversation to private already, but it doesn't keep her from gnawing her lip. ) Would you prefer to speak in person? Or, uh, to know... more about me?

Re: private.

[eolasemah]

[There's a long silence as Sina considers. Then,]

...both, I think. Yes.

Do you visit the gardens?

[elegiaque]

What about those stories particularly interests you?

( out of interest. )

[eviscerates]

The ones from home? That answer is kind of long-winded and complicated.

( Which isn't to say that she won't say it, but more that she understands if whoever is listening really isn't here for that. )

In terms of the ones from here, though, it's because I'm... part wolf. Or I'm entirely human and entirely a Wolf, it's kind of difficult to explain. I just-- I wanted to understand more about wolves here, I guess.

[elegiaque]

( she's a wolf.

of course she is. why not. fuck these rifters, they're ridiculous and she doesn't understand what any of them are doing here. )

Well, I'm much more interested in any answer that actually deals with the stories, if I'm being honest.

[eviscerates]

Gotcha.

( To be fair, that's a much calmer response thing to the Wolf revelation than she's generally used to. Usually there's at least some kind of judgement fact - then again, there is the mercy of crystals at work. )

All right. Well, basically I've lived in two worlds. The first is the world I'm from, and the second is a world a lot of people got banished to by magic. The first world is real, as real as Thedas, but in the other world? They know about us, but only mixed up, warped versions of us. They don't think we're real, but we are. These stories are wrong, but they get some stuff right, here and there.

Are you with me so far?

[blessedmaiden]

Fairies are quite real in the world I'm from, even thought most people just refer to them as Sylphs, but I've got some tales to share if you'd like.

And if wolves interest you more I have some tales to share.
[They're more like real stories for Rydia but, shhh, it doesn't really matter.]
Ever heard of Fenrir?

[eviscerates]

Sylphs? I'm not sure I've heard that name before.

( Interesting. )

Um, Fenrir at least sounds familiar, but not something I'm super familiar with myself. I want to say it's a name from... I think maybe Norse mythology? It's not my area of expertise. What does Fenrir do or mean, I guess, for you?

[unbrokenoath]

I like Andraste's Mabari.

[ Does that count. ]

[eviscerates]

Andraste I've heard of, at least. Never knew she had a mabari, though.

Kind of a stretch for a wolf, though.

[unbrokenoath]

It's a story. Well, a song. A legend, maybe? About Andraste having a mabari, and honestly, it sounds completely legitimate to me, because the mabari defected from the Tevinter Empire before Andraste died and everyone knows that great leaders in Fereldan had mabari.

[eviscerates]

If that's not sound logic, I don't know what is.

( No, really, she is still learning about history, this sounds plausible enough. )

Why did the mabari defect?