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

[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.

[eviscerates]

Mmhmm. Tinker Bell. I think Blue sometimes called her Green, but she goes by Tinker Bell. Don't be fooled, though, I've heard she can be pretty badass as well as being super adorable.

( A huff of breath. ) Sounds reasonable.

( Oh, Alistair. You card. ) Us werewolves can be surprisingly reasonable, here and there. Unless you try to talk to us before our morning coffee, then it's just terrible.

[byblow]

[ A pause. It's a disbelieving pause first, then a pause to review what he's said and wonder if any of it was offensive. He thinks not. Probably.

Which is frankly out of character and needs to be corrected. ]

You're a werewolf—now? Currently? You haven't growled once.

[eviscerates]

(+1 disbelieving pause, because she's not convinced he isn't making fun of her. )

It doesn't really come with an on/off switch. I'm always a werewolf, it just depends whether people can see the Wolf or Ruby.

[byblow]

Oh! You're a shapeshifter.

[ Not a werewolf, just a fancy mage, sage nod. ]

[eviscerates]

No.

( Thedas please )

I'm not a shapeshifter. You learn how to do that. I was born the way I am. I'm not some human changing into a wolf because I think it's fun - I'm a wolf all the time, same as I'm human all the time.

[byblow]

How much fur do you have right now?

[eviscerates]

Dude, what the hell?

[byblow]

If you're a wolf all the time—

[ maybe fur is a touchy subject ]

Claws?

[eviscerates]

I genuinely have no idea if you're interested or just being kind of a jerk.

It's-- it's like if someone's interested men and women. They might be dating a woman, sure, but that doesn't mean they're not-- ( Hang on. She stumbles, realising this is probably not going to clarify. ) Someone who likes men and women doesn't stop liking the other just because they're involved with one.

Just because I look human most of the time doesn't make me any less a Wolf. It's always there. And it's not the same as decided to learn to be a wolf because you think it's useful, or something.

[byblow]

... Was that a yes or no for the claws?

[ Jerk. But he's joking! Jerkily. ]

[eviscerates]

No claws.

( brightly. with that kind of brightness that comes when someone is very annoyed, while also being very used to getting this button pressed over and over. it's moderately better than dog jokes. )

[byblow]

Right. Got it.

[ He does not got it. He wants to quiz her on how the Wolf is always there if it is not, in fact, always there. But that sounds a bit like possession, and however relatively relaxed some people are, this is audible to a lot of people who are not relaxed at all. So maybe later. ]

One more question: what does "dude what the hell" mean?

[eviscerates]

( B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| B| )

Okay.

( She doesn't sound convinced, but exhales. )

Sorry. "Dude" is a way of... of referring to a guy. Or a girl, sometimes. Sometimes you say it like, "hey dude" or "that dude over there" or whatever. "Dude, what the hell" is kind of a nicer way of saying you're being an ass.

[byblow]

Oh. Well, you can just call me an ass, it's fine. For a time when I was a boy I was convinced that was my name.

[ B) B) B) B) B) B) ]

Our werewolves are--well, they're always both, too, I suppose, but you can tell by looking. They walk upright half the time and sometimes they can talk around the growling, but there's always a lot of fur involved.