(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.

[elegiaque]

Who?

( Quiet, and not unkind. Herian was there-

Herian knows what she was there for. What Gwenaelle might feel she owes. )

[thunderproof]

Well, first off, you love the dog forever and name it Greg. Greg has chosen you, lady, how could you turn him away?

❰ adalia's voice is bright with humour and delight — small doggo — but it sobers after a moment. ❱

More seriously... I don't know that there is a way to honour the dead. They're dead. Anything you do for them is really more for you, don't you think? So whatever you do, make it personally meaningful, and in line with what you think they would have wanted in life.

permaprivate.

[dashing]

My mother. I learned of her passing when I visited Starkhaven with Enchanter Ceallach.

( She sounds Totally Fine. If by totally find you mean that she sounds like she's done the emotional equivalent of holding her emotions under ice. )

[wickedchase]

I drink. A lot.

[dashing]

Greg.

( oi wot m8 it's a corgi

Except that Herian is Herian, and so that sounds both like a serious assessment and mildly judgmental at the same time. It's a careful balance. ) I don't like dogs. It is nothing in particular against... ( a sigh, ) "Greg."

( Also, skillful pressing of many guilt buttons, new acquaintance. )

Do you think it merely a selfish indulgence, then?

[dashing]

( Ah. )

The Knight's Code advocates temperance. It strikes me as less an honouring of the dead, and more a... destructive attempt to balm an injury.

[elegiaque]

You make her proud of you.

[wickedchase]

I don't know, I tend to drink very expensive wine. That's like an honor, or something.

[thunderproof]

Greg.

❰ adalia is very good at naming things!!! ❱

Well, you better start liking them, because Greg likes you, and unless you're an absolute monster, you can't just leave a small dog by his lonesome.

❰ she... didn't mean to? ❱

No, not selfish. People need to grieve, and to process their grief, in order to move on from loss, right? So it is for you, but it isn't selfish at all. An indulgence would be... some flashy wake, or something that's not about you and your relationship with the deceased. If it's personally meaningful, and the deceased would at least not disapprove, then I think you're fine.

[galvanising]

[ Nell doesn't mean to laugh right at the beginning of the message. She'd intended a serious answer, but just as she hits record she hears Herian telling the dog the sad facts of its life and so there's a choked noise of surprise at the top of this reply. And then a pause, to regroup after that. Then: ]

You remember them, and you do your best to make sure they didn't live and die for nothing.

[outil]

I suppose for me, it may depend on the person in question.

Reflection, I think, is often what I do. Less to think of how they may judge me now in life, but more in what their life they have taught me. And how to hold onto those lessons.

[dashing]

I am not certain—

( She stops herself. Do not be self-indulgent. Do not give way to weakness, or self-pity. Be controlled. Her voice remains steady, neutral. This is a calm discussion, and not a source of fear. )

Our paths are greatly diverged. I am trying to gauge the best way to make a woman proud whose life was devoted to healing, when I am best suited to combat.

[dashing]

Or a waste, viewed from another perspective.

[wickedchase]

This sounds like a very biased perspective.

[dashing]

( add that to the list of reasons Nell Voss is objectively the worst EVEN IF this is before promotion gloomies

She is squinting at the crystal before she makes a reply, because... laughter. Her reply is just slightly pointed. )

Through mirth?

[dashing]

And if you had not seen that person in a long while? Do you stand by that, even in cases where the memories might be fragile or distant?

[arlathvhen]

[ This probably won't end well, but here she is, doing it anyway. ]

If we have the body, the Dalish bury it, and plant a sapling over the remains. Death nourishes life, and gives their loved ones a testament to their memories.

[ There's more to it than that, but she's not going to just spill all their practices. ]

If there is no body, than we simply pick a spot that we think the deceased would like, and plant the sapling there. Even without the body, there is still life, and still a marker of a life well lived.

[outil]

I am afraid my answer would not be any different. Most of my memories don't fade.

But I can understand being afraid of having them be biased or skewed. Overall, if I was fond of that person, then the best we can do is derive what we enjoyed with them.

[dashing]

( On the one hand, how dare she. On the other, Herian is not so far gone as to think this is inherently malicious, she knows her own rage, her disgust, but— )

Thank you. Is there ever fear of possession, even so entombed?

[galvanising]

No. Unless that was the sort of person they were--sometimes it is the best way. But no, I apologize, the bit with the dog caught me by surprise. It being too short for stairs.

[aestivation]

What are your intentions and resources?

[ do u still have the body, are u a southern heathen, are u trying to make yourself feel better or make other people feel better, etc look there are a lot of variables here

a pause to listen for the dog. he def can't help there, best specify: ]

For the dead.

[aforethought]

Who are you exactly, t'go telling him what he can an' can't do.

[ the mild offense in her voice is entirely well-intentioned. talking on the dead, that doesn't help no one. talking just means you've got to think, and when someone dies, it's everyone has to do enough of that already.

dogs, tho — ]

[faithlikeaseed]

Live to make the best of what they've given you and remember them with gratitude to the Maker.

[That part is solemn. But his usual smile creeps back in for the dog:]

I'd keep him, but I've a notoriously soft heart.

[arlathvhen]

I've never heard of it, though the bodies are rarely disturbed. I can't imagine it would be appealing to a spirit, however. They're buried deep down, too far for a possessed corpse to free itself.

[dashing]

( A long pause, during which she wonders if it would be excessive to recount some of the less pleasant experiences she has witnessed as a child in the alienage; violent men with dangerous animals at their command, and the like.

Instead she just decides to ignore the topic of Gregory, who she imagines Cosima might have opinions about. Maybe Cosima can have him, or Saoirse. )

It all seems rather dependent on knowing what the dead would wish of you, or of certainty as to what that relationship meant. There is no improving on a decision, once made and acted out, and no redeeming the incorrect choice, when it is inflicted on someone who cannot inform you of some injury your choice inflicts upon them.

( just casual happy thoughts )