therookery | crystal;

Entry tags:

crystal;

FORM: Sending crystal
SENDER: Araceli Bonaventura
RECIPIENT: Everyone
WHAT: Offering advanced parkour lessons and trying to organise a shindig
WHEN: Now
WHERE: Kirkwall
NOTES: Threadjacking encouraged. A few notices have been left around the Gallows to sign-up for lessons.

Inquisition, now that we're settled in Kirkwall I come to you with two very exciting propositions. As some of you know, I taught how to climb and run the walls and battlements of Skyhold, how to fall from such heights safely but alas this was not as it was at home when Skyhold was so contained. But here we are in Kirkwall! I can truly teach you how to leap from building to building if your desire and to dive into the waters from buildings and from the rigging of a ship. Of course, we start small so as not to injure your good self but if that prospect sounds intriguing, please come find me. I am Araceli Bonaventura, at your service. I'm either working at the Gallows or by the docks or you might happen to look up.

The second is a thing to celebrate and I could say that I do it as leader of the naval projects but truly? I do it as someone who loves cooking and seafood, to finally be back by the water after so long removed from it. Tell me, Inquisition, what are your favourite seafood dishes? Your favourite meals from Antiva or Rivain or places such as that? Because I thought it might be an idea to have a cookout by the waves towards the end of the month, say, the twenty-second? Everyone is welcome if they are a fan of good food and good times among friends.

[Also it's her birthday but since they don't really do birthdays that way back home, what better thing to do than have a fun time with people that have all certainly earned it?]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

You stop counting after a while? And the tides and seasons can change that number, more than a few are submerged for part of a year or times of the day or for certain times, there's a very exact business to it that someone tried to teach me once but it was very dry for a girl.

[Important for sailors, yes, but it just made the adventure more fun when oh okay the tide really is going to swallow this island, time to swim home then.]

Tonight is good, wear something comfortable. Nothing too tight but nothing too loose, boots with good grip. And no gloves. Gloves are only a danger when you climb.

Oh, I suppose those ones don't really count, since no one can live on ones that spend part of the day underwater.

[ She makes a short hum of acknowledgment. ]

I have just the thing. It's armor, but light and made for stealth.

[ And it was spit out of a rift, but shh, it's all good and not likely to burst into flames at any moment. ]

They're still ours and they're home, why would they count less when the sea is our blood?

[Ellana that makes no sense, of course they belong.]

I look forward to seeing it then but no gloves unless you want the lecture - do you want the lecture, Ellana?

[She has a very good, very stern lecture after all, she hasn't really had to give it but that lecture can be yours for free what a deal!]

[ Because how can an island be home if nothing lives on it? Sometimes you make no sense, Araceli. But Ellana doesn't say that, because she's too nice and not about to get into an argument about it. She'll simply chalk it up to being one of those things she doesn't really understand because of her sheltered upbringing. ]

Oh, right. I've never lived on at island or at sea, so I made a poor assumption.

[ But the gloves are part of the ensemble!

...Oh, fine. ]

I'll leave the gloves behind. You have my solemn word.

[What about her crab brothers Ellana!!! You have the halla can she not have her crabs?]

Maybe I can eventually draw it, I probably should for the swordtail. [That's a terrible way to refer to Val in public but she doesn't want to risk saying his name and potentially summoning his opinions on seafood so she has to resort to this.]

We start at the Gallows, they have good walls.

[Instead of saying when she'll show up she's just going to parkour into your life because that's half the point of this.]

[ Look, she didn't know that sideways-shuffling creatures with pinching claws were your idea of family, friend. ]

Ah, the what now?

[ Sorry, she's lost. But that's her natural state like 70% of the time anyway. ]

Okay! Meet you out front?

[ She'll find you. She'll just look for the people staring aghast at the walls. ]

A young man. Very brash. A lot of talk and flapping about.

[How many men in the Inquisition could she possibly be describing right now?]

Not if I meet you first!

[It'll be great, Araceli can scandalise everyone again it's been a while of her having to be polite, minding all her manners, not really getting to blow off steam unless she's violently chopping things up in a kitchen.]

Ohhh, okay!

[ Works for her! She figures it has something to do with prancing around waving swords and trying to be fancy. Besides, parkour is more important! ]

I still need to put on my armor!

[ There's the sound of her opening a trunk and the lid smacking against the wood frame of her bed. ]

I'll see you soon!

[Who would've thought that the race to get dressed instead of undressed would be the fun challenge but here we are and Kirkwall at least means Araceli gets to have the proper distinction of fancy working clothes and much more comfortable hanging out clothes.

Meaning she could be mistaken for a dockhand or a sailor.

If she weren't up on a roof. Waiting. Always waiting. Curls blowing dramatically.]

[ Ellana gets on her armor (sans gloves and cape) and with the hood pulled down so she doesn't look completely odd walking around the Gallows like that. She gets outside and scans the courtyard before her to see if Araceli is still coming up, but when she doesn't see her, Ellana's head swivels up to look to the roof. The question is which roof. Thankfully it doesn't take long. Those curls almost resemble smoke billowing above and Ellana smiles, heading over until she's underneath Araceli. ]

You're fast.

[ Probably because she didn't have to change first. ]

[Meanwhile, behold your girl once she's there. Araceli makes her way down once spotted because it's probably best to do it like that but she drops the last few feet to land in a roll, popping back up to her feet.]

When you wear clothes that involve laces all the time, you learn to get out of them fast when you want or need to. Especially when you have other people in your life, the amount of people who've almost ruined my clothes, Korrin is far from the first.

[A beat.]

Also? You did not have irate family members calling the guard on you if they caught you in bed with their daughters, this is a life skill too.

[ Whoa. Nifty roll! ]

Felix wouldn't do that.

[ She doesn't mind revealing that much about their relationship. It's not like she's going into details about how often they have sex or anything. ]

I'm more looking to get in and out of places where the enemy's gathered and I can spy on them.

It's a very rare young man that has manners, hold onto him Ellana.

[Araceli will do her best to return him from his parkour lessons safely.]

That's easier than finding your clothes from wherever you threw them when you were half-drunk the night before. [Not always but sometimes. Especially when you're being asked to come back to bed and the offer is absurdly tempting.] I think the best way is to go up and about the Gallows, then once you're used to moving around here we can start going somewhere in the lower part of the city. The windows don't work so well or I'd have you learn to do what I did but the only ones that were good in Skyhold were the rookery. [Araceli's voice softens as she thinks aloud, looking off into the distance for a while.] The ships perhaps, about the docks, there are warehouses we could maybe see if we could get the use of for training purposes.

[ That gets a warm smile out of her. ]

I will.

[ Until the day she has to let go when he leaves for the Deep Roads. ]

All right. Where is a good place to climb up? Or is that my first lesson: to find a way?

See the stonework? You find places for your fingers and feet. If you think you can take a run and climb up [and Araceli does just so because that's easier with the boost it gives naturally] then you do that but there's a lip at the bottom if not, up on the balls of your feet not the middle or heels since they tire so fast. This is your legs doing the work, not the arms, but you have to place yourself correctly.

[Araceli nods to how she's positioned with her hips at a right angle, her feet planted but not flat, arms straight and with her weight resting on her thighs.]

[ Ellana contemplates the running jump, but decides against it. No need to break her ribs again, and with her luck, she would. ]

All right.

[ She uses the lip to hoist herself up and looks up for finger holds. Seeing one, she then looks to where she can put her foot. Hmm, that's trickier. Maybe if she was dressed like in the old days with bare feet, she'd have an easier time, but now she has to find a groove that can fit the toe of her boot. ]

I see a place for my hand, but if I'm supposed to push up with my legs, I need a foothold first, right? Nothing seems big enough.

[Ellana it's your feet making contact with the wall, not your chest.]

You don't stay long, you're always pushing up, if you do have to stay for long then you can plant yourself. But this is always moving up or to the side, down if you need to come at it again. [Araceli's boots are worn in, still sturdy enough for travel but the leather is supple from running around in them constantly now and when she moves, it doesn't feel like wearing boots. Araceli pushes off while she's still in Ellana's sight, catching herself in her hands then moving again, mostly up and down then left and right so Ellana can actually see how she's placed herself.

The most athletic of crabstances, bless Assassin's Creed.]

[ Araceli, you clearly don't realize how Ellana attracts bad luck at times. ]

Ohh. I guess I'm overthinking it.

[ Which is only natural. Ellana's thirst for knowledge means her brain is always working. But she's no genius, and she often focuses on the wrong thing. Probably why she ends up daydreaming while reading so very often. ]

Okay, here I go.

[ She honestly doesn't think she can just jump and grab a handhold just yet. She's not athletic enough for it. But she plants her foot sideways against a space between the stones and hoists herself up, hand sliding across until she feels a handhold. Her foot is slipping, so she climbs up and gets her other foot in place before the first has a chance to slip off its spot.

It's not graceful, and the sound of her boots scraping the stone means it's not stealthy either. She's developed a spell she can use to silence areas around her, but she'd prefer learning to be a stealthy climber like others and only use the spell for emergencies. ]

To the top?

[ It's asked as she keeps moving up, partly motivated by the fact that her feet don't feel secure and she has to keep moving before she falls off. ]

The thinking can be before when you have to plan a route but that's when you're on the ground; walking Kirkwall or anywhere, I look at a place and think how I could get up and down, are the windows big enough that I might be able to slip through should they be open, or could I pick the lock from outside and get in. Where would a guard see me, where do the shadows fall at different times of the day. It's worth being in the habit [a huff out, next part of the lesson to follow because Araceli doesn't really hang on the walls too long so she moves to a new position to avoid getting stiff] to go for walks at different times of the day, on different days.

[A thief's trick. It's how you case a joint.]

Breathe out on the push with the legs, inhale when you pull up. [Important things to remember and it tends to come naturally anyway with the movement of the body but some people fight against it.]

Yes, to the top, we can run the rooftop here then I'll show you to fall.

[ This is already so much to remember! Probably why it's worth having a teacher instead of trying to figure this all out by herself. ]

Right.

[ Her body sort of is fighting against it, as pulling herself up exerts energy and she blows out breathes. Time to reverse it. She pauses, blowing the breath out of her nose as she lifts up with her calves, and when she grabs a spot to pull up, sucks in new air through her nose. Right now, this seems like so much to focus on while trying not to slip off. If she could just get this to happen involuntarily, that would be great.

She's about halfway to the top, going much slower than Araceli. Thankfully, she has no fear of heights. It's kind of impossible to when you can be a bird. And it's that thought that suddenly bolsters her. If she falls, she'll just shift into bird form. So now she can take risks and speed this up a bit. Araceli might notice her renewed vigor as she pushes up and grabs for new handholds. ]

Sounds good. [ She won't mention the bird thing, even though Araceli has already seen it. Ellana is here to learn this skill, not take shortcuts unless she's about to break her neck. ]

[Araceli's been doing this since she was twelve. Long enough for some things to become habit, earning her living off it since the age of fifteen as well as being a strong swimmer that always helps with the whole controlled breathing issue.

Glancing at where Ellana is from time to time, Araceli concentrates on climbing up since the Gallows isn't much of a challenge by now - it's tall but nowhere is as tall as Castileos, it's got plenty to cling to without too many gaps or obstacles between, and there isn't any real chill in the air or heavy structural damage the way there was in Skyhold.

On the whole it's a good place and Ellana's doing fine without coaching so she makes her way to the top, pulling herself up in a fluid movement where her elbows bend and straighten as she uses her arms for that final moment to get her legs over. She does wait there though, a hand ready for whenever Ellana makes it up if she needs it. Sometimes this is the worst part for people when they aren't used to having to use their bodies like that, a little trembly or shaky with it.]

Maybe at some point we can get watchers too, that way you can learn how to do this without being seen. Better than doing it the hard way where someone might shoot you in the backside.

That-- [ huff ] would be good. [ huff puff. ] Maybe next time?

[ She's close to the top now, looking up to see Araceli looking as natural as if she was born atop the roof. One more pull up and she's able to get her leg over, grateful for any help Araceli offers at this point. Once she's safely up beside her friend, Ellana rotates her shoulders and grimaces slightly. ]

First time's always the hardest.

Skyhold was good for a few things that here isn't. It was all enclosed where I had to practice with soldiers on watch and on patrol, patterns to memorise, patients in others. Which might not be a bad idea. [If Araceli can see the guard pattern and confirm it, then have Ellana watch and report it back? It's all practice. If she wants to learn how to sneak, it's the sort of thing she'll need to get a real handle on.]

Your body will get used to it, swimming will help to tone some of the muscles, stretches if you feel anything getting stiff but obviously not every time is a time you get to stretch. [Life being what it is.]

Let me know when you can breathe comfortably and we can keep going. I don't want you getting a stitch or dizzy up here.

Just a minute, then. I'll tell you when I'm ready.

[ She looks down over the edge, breathing hard but keeping focused as to the goings-on down below. Soldiers are moving towards the training area, several people with baskets are heading towards the garden, and two scouts are leaning against a wall having a smoke. ]

Everything is so... less organized here. Which is funny because we have this nice, centralized place for it all, but people are either sitting inside all day or milling around out here. [ Her head nods towards the scouts. ] They could do that every day at this time, or just found a free moment. Same with those guys heading to the sparring ring. And that's with people who are here everyday. Spying on others when you don't know what they're supposed to be doing must be a lot of work.

That's what city life is. People are always coming and going but it still has a rhythm and pattern to it, it just takes longer to find it. You have to be willing to put the time in to do it. [Araceli stretches, her back popping.] You know I was a thief before I was in Thedas, but to be a good thief that didn't get caught by the guards or who didn't get captured by anyone and put in a cell, I could spend days, weeks, even months learning different routes and routines. That was home, you know home. In time, people will settle, you'll know Kirkwall. Not everything is predictable but you'll learn to have as many plans as you can.

I had mouths to feed with what I was stealing but it was the thrill too. I was better than them. All those rich people with all their money and their guards and sometimes they chased me, sometimes they fought me, a few times they shot me but no one ever caught me. [That's a lie. Leandra caught her but Leandra's plan was very clever after all.] You want to be the best, it becomes your life. I ran with a gang of thieves when I was twelve. I moved to my own rooms at fifteen to provide for myself and then the rest in that building. [Araceli might have had a safety net waiting for her if she needed it but it's where everyone's different life starts to tell them apart; Ellana can survive in the wilds better than Araceli ever could, she'll always know far more about magic and what it is to live in Thedas but this is what Araceli knows. If she's better at passing that on than teaching how to spot tells remains to be seen.]

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