therookery | [ OPEN ]

FORM: sending crystal
SENDER: Minka
RECIPIENT: Everyone with a crystal
WHAT: Minka's trying to get her bearings
WHEN: Mid-Firstfall, during the Nevarra expedition
WHERE: Shes in Kirkwall, but this message is going out to all.
NOTES: Reminder to check out her permissions post if talk of abuse is something she shouldn't bring up to your character. Not saying it will in her first post, but just to cover my bases.

[ Well this is just great. Here Minka thought she'd show up, they'd put a pair of tweezers to her hand, and out would come the bit of green Fade magic bullshit. Not so, she's now learned. And she's stuck here unless she wants to be in excruciating pain. Super.

It takes her several tries to start up the crystal correctly and when it is, there's the sound of deep breaths and whispered words: "Okay, okay, I can do this. Okay. Just fucking get it over with. Do it, you fucker. Do it. Okay, okay.... okay." ]

How does anybody find anything around this damned place? Like, yeah, I know how to find the stables: just follow the smell. Same with the kitchens. But you lot have completely changed this place since I was last here and I can't find shit. I'm lucky I ran into someone who knew someone who handed out these crystal things.

Would it kill you to put up more signs? And by signs, I mean signs with pictures on them. Not all of us got a fancy schooling to learn how to read.

[ She mutters under her breath. It's something about nugs. ]

Anyway, does anybody do favors around here? I need someone to write a letter for me. Preferably a dwarf, but I'll take who I can get. In exchange, I'll run messages for you in Kirkwall for a week. I just have to let my employers know I ain't coming back for awhile.

[ Because of this stupid freaking shard in her hand, but she doesn't say that. ]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Not a bad call, I've heard Carta life can be pretty brutal. But yeah, I'm used to it. And I know that when I'm with the Valo-Kas, they'll have my back like I have theirs. [She grows a little wistful, not having that that camaraderie in person for a while.]

You heard right.

[ She's lucky scars are all she has from it all. ]

Is that the name of the merc company? What's it mean?

[She nods, taking another swig.] It's Qunlat for 'greatsword'. Not my personal fighting style, since I'm a mage, but we have enough two-handed sword fighters for it to make sense.

...of course, I'm not active since I'm here instead. But they understand, I've never gotten any shit for that.

Oh, fancy.

[ At least to her, it is. It's the name of a weapon in another language. ]

How come you're here? You don't have a green thing stuck in you somewhere, do you?

Nope! [Korrin raises her intact, shardless hands briefly.]

I'm here because that Corypheus asshole took out some of my company when he blew up the Temple of Sacred Ashes. He's not going to get what's coming to him without a member of the Valo-Kas being there, I'm going to guarantee that.

Oh. Sounds as good a reason as any.

Some people blew up our Vimmark Mountains base, but I don't think I'd go after them even if I knew who it was.

Really? Not a vengeful bone in your body?

What would be the point? We were a bunch of grunts living there. It's not like we were friends, and those guys that blew it up are probably people I don't want to mess with, if they can do that.

[ Minka's not used to forming bonds with people. Maybe if she'd been beside the others, digging out those tunnels, there would be a common bond to unite them, but she was the messenger always running to and fro. ]

Vengeance is for people who can handle the consequences.

That's...a fair point, I'll give you that. I'm not encouraging vengeance anyway, just a little surprised when it's not a thing. I meet way more people for who it is, one way or another.

[ Her brow lifts a little in surprise. She wasn't sure if this was going to spark a whole discussion or not. ]

I guess because a bunch of you guys here are fighting in a war, right? I'm not about that life. If I didn't have to be here, I wouldn't be.

Yeah, I hear that a lot from shardbearers, especially the rifter ones. It's not anything anyone should be forced into.

[She glances down at what's written, then back over to Minka.]

Is there anything else you want me to add?

Oh!

[ She nearly forgot about the letter. ]

No, it's good. You got down everything I said, right? And you think it sounds good?

Yep, I did. As long as they know not to expect you back for a long time, that's the important part. Will that really appease them, or is there something else we ought to do?

[ Minka lifts her hand to her mouth, biting down on a fingernail as she thinks. She nibbles for a moment, then spits out the nail because she wasn't raised to have any manners. ]

That means "make them not mad," right? I don't think I could ever appease them, then. I could show up with a sack of gold and Harik or somebody would still knock me around for not turning back up when I should've. But I ain't important enough for them to send anybody here to yell at me so... I guess I'm stuck here and I don't now what I'll do once this shard is gone and I go back.

[ She shrugs, trying to look casual, but she'll be up all night running through scenarios in her head of what will happen to her when she gets back. Or what she might do in life instead of going back. Seeker Reed said that was an option, but it's hard to fathom not being in the Carta anymore. ]

It's good. We can end it here.

[She frowns at the picture of Minka's former life that unfolds with each factoid, almost wishing Harik would show his face she she could headbutt him.]

If you're not important enough for them to send someone, you could just disappear when all this is over. I bet you can find a place with people who won't knock you around. But it's entirely up to you. [Besides, she never thought two years ago that it would have lasted this long, and yet it has. The Inquisition could be need for two more years, or beyond.]

Alright, it looks good to me. [She slides the paper over.] Is there anyone else who'd want to know where you are? Some family out there?

[ It's not an uncommon tale, and Minka assumes that it's just life, isn't it? ]

Yeah, somebody else said that too. I don't know...

[ She always goes back. It's not like she was stuck digging tunnels to lyrium like other grunts in the Carta. As a courier, she got out in the open air and got to travel alone. She could have run off multiple times, but she never did. There's something that always draws her back; something she can't understand. She just returns because she's Carta, and this is her life. ]

Nah. [ She gives her head a shake and takes a long drink of ale, assuming they're finished here. ] I mean, everybody came from somewhere and got family, right? But I don't know who they are. We get raised together -- the kids, I mean -- by some old ladies. And I'm pretty sure they either don't remember me or if they do, they don't care where I am now.

[She just shrugs, figuring that it wouldn't do any good to push the matter. As long as Minka knows it's an option, it's up to her to deal with it or not. Listening to the rest, Korrin nods and stares off.]

That sounds about right. Another person I used to know was from the Carta, never had ties to speak of either. [But she doesn't really want to talk about him and so shifts the subject, sort of.] A lot of my kind are in a similar boat. My parents never knew if they were related to anyone still living, or the woman who took them in and helped them get a new life. Qunari don't know their family ties, so when they get out, they have to make their own.

I'm fine not making my own.

[ It's said quickly, like she's often thought this. ]

Things are easier if you don't got to worry about others too.

[ OPEN ]

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ironic icon

lol, mine is L E G I T

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