(no subject)

[dashing]

FORM: Crystal
SENDER: Herian Amsel
RECIPIENT: everyone with a crystal
WHAT: Deep Thoughts & Dogges
WHEN: during Nevarra stuff, prior to the dragon hunt & Necropolis Thriller Reenactment.
WHERE: Nevaaaarra
NOTES: content warning for themes of loss & death. Also just a heads up that Herian is (still) a big jerk about the Dalish and rebels/eager apostates

Inquisition,

( she starts, and then there is a moment of pause. Her accent is stronger than it was before her trip to Starkhaven, renewed by proximity even if it has already softened from what it had been there. She speaks with that same, inevitable control, but she does not sound quite the same type of calm as usual. )

How do you best honour the dead? Recently or long departed. I would be glad to know.

( Just a casual question, nbd.

She sure doesn't sound like "glad" should be a description of her ever, but maybe given the content she can be forgiven. There's a small bark, and though it cannot be seen, rest assured that Herian is frowning at the source. There is a measured pause, before Herian adds, )

And if any could advise me what to do with a small canine that sees fit to prance about wherever I go, I'd be grateful.

( Quietly exasperated, to the dog as she moves to end the post, ) You're too short for the stairs. Accept it.

Comments

Private

[youwonscience]

You okay?

[Also:]

You definitely do not have to call your puppy Greg. I mean, unless you want to, but I'm happy to help with name suggestions.

[You are obviously keeping the dog, Herian.]

permaprivate.

[dashing]

I am well, thank you.

( She it not, at all. That very numb tone might be telling. )

I am... not sure the dog is dignified enough to be called "Gregory," or any variation. ( But, she stirs herself. Get it together, Herian. ) How are you?

[youwonscience]

Can't complain. Busy, but not so busy I can't take some time out if I need to.

Do you need me to come make sure neither of you runs afoul of the stairs?

[And maybe to coax Herian to be a bit more forthcoming in person.]

[dashing]

To Nevarra? ( Surely not. ) Or— when I am returned?

( She sounds gently confused. Probably Cosima doesn't mean traveling to Nevarra, but there was terrible, brief hopefulness that it was what she meant. )

I am always glad of your company, Cosima, but I'd not demand you travel so far for the sake of looking after a mis-proportioned canine.

[youwonscience]

OK, I was joking about coming to Neverra but ... seriously. If you need me to come up with some weird excuse to give my boss to get me sent out there, I am not above some white lies for the greater good.

[She sounds worried now.]

[dashing]

No, it’s— I am entirely well. There is no need.

( There’s a long silence, but Cosima sounds worried, so she wrestles with it. )

I received poor news regarding my family when I visited Starkhaven. I had meant to advise you of it before leaving Kirkwall for Nevarra, but I could not fathom the speaking of it.

[youwonscience]

Shit, I'm sorry.

[That feels amazingly insufficient, via crystal. Still.]

You don't have to be entirely well. If you're not. It's fine if you're not ready to talk about it, but that sounds like a lot.

[dashing]

Thank you.

( She pauses, uncomfortable. )

The loss is one unknown to me for some fourteen years. I’m not sure I’ve the right to it.

[youwonscience]

I don't think it works like that, [she says, quietly. She thinks, fleetingly, of the sisters who'd died before they'd ever had a chance to meet, but puts the thought aside. This isn't about her.]

Your feelings are yours. There's maybe good and bad things to do with them, but feelings just are. They aren't right or wrong.

[dashing]

I wish you were here.

( Quiet and impulsively said; there's a sort of fierceness in it, that fierceness that comes from wanting. Its tempered, of course - she's Herian, and she's controlled, but that doesn't negate the feeling behind it totally. Not this time.

A quiet sigh. It was a selfish thing to say, but now she's said it, and she feels tired. )

I'll think on it.

[youwonscience]

I wish I were too.

[It aches, to think of Herian in pain; to think she's so far away, and that there's little she can do. Cosima isn't sure whether it's better to press a bit or to let things be; she decides, after a moment, on the latter.]

Why don't you tell me a little about your stair-challenged friend, [she suggests, gently, an offering of an out that won't end the conversation entirely.]

[dashing]

I'll return as soon as duty allows. Mayhaps we can have a few quiet days, when I'm returned.

( Concept: lie in bed with Cosima as much as possible, forget problems in world exist for a few hours.

Ah, but the dog. There's a very slight sound of amusement that comes with her next exhale of breath. )

He is proportioned... as though he were a dog of normal stature, but with legs designed to allow him through tunnels rather than the open air. And the ears, not so dissimilar to the fennecs in the Hinterlands, if ever you've seen them. He's taken to sleeping in the stable, with the horse. It's... oddly endearing.

[youwonscience]

As long as you like, [Cosima promises. She thinks, no matter how the rest of the trip goes, that Herian will have earned a short staycation.]

Oh man, that sounds really cute. You know, they've done scientific studies in my world about why people find certain animals adorable. Big eyes, rounded face, fluffy tends to help. It's measurable.

Also, you should name him Franklin. Unless you're attached to Greg already.

[She hopes, faintly, that Herian knows she's not ignoring her hurt, but gently trying to offer a distraction out of care. It's the best she can do, so far away.]

[dashing]

( Unseen as it may be, Herian smiles a little. Cosima has always been rather good at winning unexpected smiles from her. Despite— despite herself, despite everything, there is a quiet breath of amusement. )

Scientific studies about adorability? ( It seems so bizarre, such a strange use of time and study. And money, for that matter, but when there is so much chaos in the world, devoting time to study what makes an animal cute seems bizarre. She can't deny that it's also nice to think there is an appreciation for such things; ) It seems a little like art, making studies of beauty and the world around them. Understanding the worlds wonders and trying to share them through another means of thinking entirely.

( Anyway, maybe that was idiotic. ) I've no objection to Franklin. It is... not a name I've heard before. One from your world, I assume?

[youwonscience]

Yeah. It's usually a family name, but not always. The one in particular I'm thinking of was a scientist, though. [Surprise?] Rosalind Franklin made some of the most foundational discoveries to my field of study. And then a couple of men got the credit, because of course they did.

[WELL.]

And you can call him Frank, if it turns out he's more of a Frank.

[dashing]

( Of course they did. That makes her brow furrow a little confusion more than anything else. ) Is that the norm, in your world? Men claiming the credit for the work of women?

( Thedas is hot garbage, but at least sexism isn't as bad. Generally. Mostly. Sometimes. Just don't look at Antiva too hard. )

I like Franklin, it's very dignified. ( Even if the dog doesn't deserve something so dignified. ) I hope he proves worthy of the honour.

[youwonscience]

Yeah, actually, that is one major advantage Thedas seems to have over my world. With all the bullshit ways people judge each other, men systemically having more power than women doesn't seem as common.

[y...ay?]

Maybe he'll grow into the name.

[dashing]

That... is certainly something to be grateful for.

( She sounds very doubtful. )

If he doesn't, I'll make sure to let everyone know it was you who chose the name.

[youwonscience]

I'll totally take all the blame. And explain to the few rifters who'll get it that he is definitely not named after the guy who said "Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise."

[Cosima sounds as if she might be making a mental list of rifters who'd heard of Bejamin Franklin, in order to cut that off at the pass.]

[dashing]

That sounds like a rhyme for children, and vastly underestimates the reality of being a labourer, I think.

( Bemused. So bemused. ) Do you know any quotes from his actual namesake?

[youwonscience]

Ok, in fairness to Benjamin Franklin, he didn't only write trite rhyming advice, but even so.

I'm ashamed to say I don't know, offhand. I know about what she did more than what she said. I don't think I realized, at home, how few things I bothered memorizing because they were easy to look up if I wanted them.

[dashing]

I’ll have to be satisfied by whatever you know of her, once I am returned.

( Chilling in bed and learning science stuff, sounds pretty good. )

Thank you, Cosima. ( For the old putting up with her/talking to her/looking after her thing. )

[youwonscience]

Hey, of course. And look, you can crystal me whenever you want, OK? If I'm not going to run off to Nevarra in a romantic but misguided gesture, the least I can do is offer someone to talk to in the meantime.

[dashing]

I will.

( Well, she means to, she'll try, but she might not actually, with having to go organise dragon slaying and generally trying to Repress intensely. )

And I hope you know you can do the same?

[youwonscience]

Totally.