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TEST DRIVE MEME!

TEST DRIVE: ORLAIS EDITION

I. EVERYBEAR I GO

Believe it or not, there are bears in Orlais, too. Stuffed ones posed in noble salons casting intimidating shadows as lords tell unlikely stories about how they bravely stared the great beast in the eye before they slayed it with a single shot. One comtesse keeps bears as pets in large pens on her estate, much to the distress of her nearest neighbors. But most common are the dancing bear acts found on street corners here and there. Perhaps there is some sort of special bear communication network that has passed on a message, because it seems like the presence of the Inquisition has inspired these bears to finally make a break for it out of servitude, and that is how you find yourself being chased by a bear in a belled hat down a narrow cobbled alley lined with street vendors.

II. OUI OUI MON AMI

The Inquisition's efforts are currently focused on Orlais, where a civil war is raging and intelligence indicates Corypheus seeks to eliminate Empress Celene, while the oppressed elven population's discontent threatens to bubble over into a second rebellion. The Inquisition's activities here are mostly political and designed to gather influence and information: endeavoring to make a good impression at the ball of an influential comtesse with ties to the Council of Heralds, or assisting with the reconstruction of the alienage district destroyed by fire. There are rowdy soldiers in taverns to eavesdrop on, and restless crowds listening to streetcorner speakers preach Celene's virtues, or Gaspard's, or lament the end of the world.

But honestly, who cares about any of that? Halamshiral also offers great high-end shopping. Priorities. Gowns, tunics, fur-trimmed cloaks, sleeves slashed and puffed with layers of bright-colored satin. Tall boots with gold spurs to clink as you walk. Veils, lace-trimmed smallclothes, perfumes, necklaces worth your weight in gold. If you have the coin, the shopkeeps have time for you. The slightest whiff of poverty will leave them cold toward you. They might even pretend not to see you, but hey: they work on commission.

Even among decadence and finery, there are signs of unrest. In an out-of-the-way village square, little Orlesian children gather to throw thick gold coins in a gilt fountain, with whispered wishes and giggles. All at once, a thief pushes his way into their circle, breaking the idyllic scene. He leaps into the fountain and grabs a handful of coin. Thin, dirty, ragged, hollow-eyed and, under the hood of his cloak, elven, he scans the now-screaming children -- and then takes off running.

“Stop him!” howls one precious Orlesian cherub, her rosy cheeks streaked with tears. “That dirty knife-ear took my money!”

Kids are just the cutest.

III. SKYHOLD

Skyhold is where people who don't like fun accents and life being a constant masquerade hang around repairing walls, filling out paperwork, and, on rare occasions, engaging in elaborate, color-coded team snowball fights.

That last occasion? Totally over. Now the Inquisition will see you work, work, work, work, work. Working to save Thedas is not all fun and games, and there are plenty of things to keep you busy in Skyhold. See that roof over there? It has a hole in it. Climb up, someone suggests, and fix it. See that hole over there, in the wall? Some drunk from the tavern fell through it yesterday, and it needs repairs. See that floor over there? It’s dirty. And here’s a mop.

If these tasks seem too menial and demeaning, perhaps you’d like to head up to the library and reshelve some books. Perhaps you’d like to meet a special friend there? The stacks are warm and cozy, and at least a little out of the way. Secret spaces are at a premium. But be careful: you aren’t the only one in Skyhold, no matter how many people shipped out to Orlais.

If warm ovens are more your style than warm books, try the kitchens. They could always use a helping hand - especially because one of the baby griffons has made its way down there. A sharp-beaked competition for your plans to pilfer snacks, but you’ll prevail, right? The griffon loves chicken, and the taste of your blood. Get her outside before she gets too comfortable.

Or just feed the dogs, you dirty Fereldan.

IV. WILDCARD

Thedas is a big place. Do something else in it. Maybe in the Hinterlands.

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I.

Bears aren't common on Jakku. They're not common anywhere Rey is familiar with, really. If you'd asked her what she thought the bear was she might say some kind of mutated ewok. Or a really uneducated wookie. Her opinion on the bear is however entirely irrelevant as the universal language of "something is trying to eat you" is one she is finitely familiar with. Because on Jakku, lots of things are trying to eat you.

So this is why Rey is now running down the winding streets of Val Royeaux, screaming "GET OUT OF THE WAY" at the top of her lungs every time she sees someone who might trip her up and make her a snack for the bear rumbling after her.

II.

The finery and frivolity of the Orlesian culture is enough to make Rey nauseous. She grew up scraping for every meal, not sure where the next one would come from, and water was something to be cherished and carefully rationed. Here they had so much that it was left out in the open in pools, and children threw dirty coins into it.

When the thief dashed in and stole the coins, Rey honestly couldn't blame him. She watched him flee, the ghost of a smile on her face. At least that wasn't so different. There's always someone poor and trying to get by, any way they can. The screaming child barely registers in her mind, and she looks back at it, trying to decide if she should scold it for ruining perfectly good water in the first place, or go after the thief.

Lifting her staff from where she's leaning on it she sighs slightly, starting off down the alley after the thief in a decidedly non-hurried stance. She knows she could stop him if she wanted to, but she doesn't want to. As far as she's concerned, he's the smart one in this city. Still, if she at least looks like she's going to try to stop him, it'll take her away from the nauseating sight of the fountain and the wasteful children surrounding it.

III.

Rey's been told several times that the food in the kitchen isn't really anything special. Of course, when you grow up eating protein packets fresh food is something entirely amazing. Cookies, especially, are something she's delighted in, and she'd stopped by the kitchen to steal a few to squirrel away when the griffon presents herself.

She's careful to stay out of reach of the large creature, although she decides to make a move to calm it using the Force. It's been harder here, for her to dig in and take a hold on the power she's only just begun to learn in her own universe, but she tries, one hand outstretched towards the animal.

"Shhh. It's alright, you just don't belong here. Let's get you back to your family, okay?"

Edited 2016-07-22 15:34 (UTC)

Ariadne couldn't cook to save her life. But she was very good at stealing. A few bits and pieces here and there didn't always go amiss, but lately, Ariadne had been getting more ambitious, pilfering whole loaves of bread and half a dozen eggs at a time. It was all for a good cause, of course. The refugees needed more than they were getting. Especially the children. But it did mean she had to pick odder and odder hours to do her work.

As she came slinking down the hall, however, she caught an unfamiliar scent and picked up on a voice she didn't recognize.

Someone new?

She crept forward slowly, tucking her empty satchel behind her back. A second scent hit her nose as she raised her chin. That griffon was back. "Oh no," she muttered, dropping down to her haunches. Carefully, she started scratching at the floor with her fingernails, trying to draw its attention.

Rey couldn't tell if she was having any effect on the creature or not. She'd only ever influenced human minds, she was having trouble with the griffon. It had stopped and was looking curiously at her, which was something at least, it just wasn't moving like she wanted it to.

The scratching noise did draw it's attention and Rey huffed out a breath as it looked away from her, making a curious warbling.

"Well this clearly isn't working," she mutters under her breath, her eyes darting briefly in the direction of the sound the griffon was distracted by, registering it's a person but that's about all she's got, before looking to see if there's something she can use to lure the creature out of the kitchen with.

Pursing her lips together, Ariadne started to whistle. She would have taken out her flute, but she thought the sudden movement might frighten the creature.

Alastrians had a singular knack for dealing with most animals. But the bigger they were, the harder. And it didn't help that this one was...

Well. She'd never seen anything else like it.

At the end of her refrain, she hissed out of the corner of her mouth, "If you want to make a break for it, you'd better do it."

Frowning at the words coming out of the other woman's mouth Rey licks her lips, her eyes not leaving the griffon until she catches a glimpse of a freshly plucked chicken out of the corner of her eye, clearly the bird-like creature had knocked it down and was planning on eating it until they'd interrupted.

"We need to get her back to her nest, I'm not leaving," she hisses back, stretching her hand out for the chicken instead, reaching with the Force to pull it close. It's an effort, and it moves slower than she wants it to, but after a few laborious moments it's close enough. Carefully she unslings her staff from her back, and sticks an end up the chicken's hollowed out cavity.

She straightens up, careful to keep the chicken well ahead of her, and makes sure she has the griffon's attention, but doesn't make any sudden movements to rile it up.

"Okay, let's play follow the meat bird."

Ariadne had witnessed the Force before. Firsthand, in fact, thanks to her friendship with Obi-Wan.

She'd never seen it used to fetch a chicken before.

Clever.

"All right," she said, standing up very, very slowly with her fingers easily spread to either side. "I'm going to back up very slowly. You use that...thing...to float it over the griffon's head and to my hands. Then you move down the hall past me and take it back."

Slow was the key. Step by step. Careful not to spook the creature.

Oh. She wants Rey to use finesse. Each time she's moved something with the Force it's been more of a lucky accident than something deliberate. Even dragging that chicken a few feet had been a hell of a task.

"I'm not sure I can do that," Rey says slowly, keeping her eyes on the griffon. "I mean I can try, but I've never used the Force to move something like that. I might end up dropping it on her head. Or yours."

That made Ariadne smile, just a little bit. Her gray eyes glistened like silver coins, just as bright and just as round. "I've had worse things dropped on my head than a chicken."

Still, dropping it on the griffon wouldn't end well.

"How's your throwing arm?"

"More reliable than using the Force," Rey replies, a little relieved that they aren't going to go ahead and attempt the floating trick anyway. She can throw something more confidently right now.

"You don't think that'll rile her up though?"

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demonicbeauty - 2016-07-26 16:00 (UTC) - Expand

You know that awkward moment when two people are trying to pass by each other in a thin hall or pathway and can't quite manage it? Every time one goes left, the other goes right? Then they each try to do the opposite and end up right in each other's way again?

Yeah, that's pretty much exactly what's happening here. After the third or fourth time, Betia huffs out a little laugh and grins at Rey, shaking her head. It's a funny and cute coincidence, right? Not someone intentionally stalling her so that the thief can escape, right??

The coincidental path blocking isn't particularly bothersome, although when Betia laughs Rey stops, planting her staff onto the ground and giving the woman a smile, jerking her chin in the direction of the thief who has now disappeared around a corner.

"Friend of yours?"

Betia glances over her shoulder briefly, before giving Rey a mildly curious look, as if she has no idea to whom she could be referring. With no more sign of the elf in sight now, she just shrugs and takes a bite of the kabob in her hand.

Clearly, she is the picture of innocence.

Rey lets out a huff of laughter, shaking her head.

"Well if he is, he should really wait until the spoiled children leave before stealing their money. Advice from one scavenger to another." Not that Rey had ever stolen from children, but she'd considered it. It would have been so easy, if she could have gotten away with it back on Jakku. Plenty others had stolen things from her. If she'd let herself go there, she might've been better off.

"Can you tell me where you got that?" she shifts topics, gesturing at the kabob now. "I'm starving and that looks delicious."

At the comment about stealing, Betia just raises an eyebrow skeptically and looks in the direction of the fountain where the kids were just throwing money away. For fun. Does it really even count at that point?

From the look of her, Betia definitely seems like she'd have a lot more in common with the thief than the noble children crying about having seen a poor person today. She's no elf of course, but she's dressed in plain, somewhat frayed clothing and doesn't appear to even own a pair of shoes. If she had any money at all, she spent the last of it on the food.

But hey! It is pretty tasty. In answer to the question, she simply points back the way she just came from, then pauses a moment before holding her meal out in offer, if Rey wants to try it.

Rey understands that look, and rolls her eyes at it, nodding her head.

"They're still children," she mutters, for all the good it does. Even if they're horrible spoiled creatures that will grow up into horrible spoiled adults, making children cry for no reason is really just not a good way to deal with things.

The offer of the meal surprises her a little and she smiles, waving her hand in polite refusal.

"Thank you, but I'll buy my own. Being indentured to the Inquisition has a few financial advantages."

Betia just laughs, taking a few steps backward and waving at Rey to follow.

Her smile widens as she nods her head, falling into step after Betia.

"So since you clearly understand me, are you unable to speak?" She knows the question might be a little rude, but she's seen the full gamut of people and the way they speak or don't on Jakku. It wouldn't be the first time she's run into someone who doesn't speak.

When Korrin hoped that Val Royeaux would prove to be more interesting than usual, this is not what she meant. She was inspecting the wares of a stall, ignoring the pointed looks from the humans nearby who probably thought she was going to start a fight or steal something, when that shout reaches her ears.

"What the fuck--"

And then she spots the young woman running just ahead of the bear. Immediately, the tall horned woman turns and slips her staff from her back, her other hand going for the empty hilt at her hip. Blurring forward on waves of magic, she charges said bear with a hilt that's now complete thanks to a glowing blade forming as she swings.

She'd just ducked out of the way when the massive woman charged the bear, with what looked to Rey like a lightsaber. Was this woman a jedi? She'd only ever met one, and that had been such a brief meet that she didn't know what to even look for. She certainly hadn't expected to find any in this place.

Stumbling to a stop she spun around and watched, somewhat concerned now. The bear's trainer had been wailing "Don't hurt Princess!" when it had chased her off, it hadn't actually occurred to her to attack it with the lightsaber hanging off her belt.

"I was trying to lead her out of the city!" she hollers at the horned woman, before grimacing and pulling her lightsaber from where it hung, igniting the blade.

Ugh, this city. Taking note of that belled hat, Korrin narrows her eyes. Some stupid noble must have gotten the grand idea to bring it to civilization, nevermind that they're wild animals and not in any way suitable for Val Royeaux. This wouldn't even be the first time she'd seen a wild creature, clearly miserable, caught because they were currently fashionable.

"Bears are not fucking pets!" She says that more as a general gripe than at the unfamiliar woman, backing away after that first swipe which didn't dig very deep thanks to the bear's thick hide. The bear swipes back, but she's just that bit faster, and gets just close enough to the unfamiliar woman with the strangely familiar blade, casting Barrier over them both. When the bear swipes again, it holds, Korrin not coming to harm as a result.

"Then follow me! You're headed towards another square." At least her knowledge of the city is good for something, and Korrin will use it to help guide the angry beast down the shortest route possible out of the city. So she makes another swig, this time more just to keep the bear's attention, before darting to the entrance of a less populated side-street. At least getting the bear to follow is not a problem.

Somewhat relieved when the horned woman decides not to kill the bear, Rey nods her head, sweeping her lightsaber around and scoring the earth nearby, directing the bear before following as she was told.

"You know where you're going?" she called to the woman, trying to keep the bear in mind and not let it lag too far behind and lose interest. Making noise probably helped direct it's ire.

"Yep! There are open fields this way." That's all the breath Korrin can manage at the moment, or she'd probably come up with some sarcastic quip about being a native in this very human land. Her long legs and ability to blur ahead keep her from the bear's claws, but she takes care not to get too far ahead in order to keep the bear's interest and ire. Every time she thinks that might happen, Korrin will pause to swing her glowing blade, getting the creature's attention. So far, the ruckus seems to work towards keeping people off the streets as well. If there were any inhabitants on this side-street, they're keeping themselves sealed inside for now.

With the horned woman doing the work ahead, Rey positioned herself so she was running wide of the bear, keeping it from deciding it wanted to turn off down another alley. Lightsaber in hand definitely made her feel a little bolder, and even as the other woman was lashing her blade Rey was swinging her own, keeping the creature from getting any ideas.

This would be fun if it wasn't so absolutely terrifying.

That's right, look at the shiny blade and lightsaber. Ignore the people trying desperately not to become bear-food. At least attempting this with another is possible, so far; alone, she'd just have to kill the damn thing before it could do the same to a civilian. Recalling a city map in her head isn't as easy while trying to simultaneously encourage and fend off a bear at the same time, but she does her best for both their sakes. The sound of the river ahead is encouraging and the Vashoth mage gains confidence, taking them down the winding street in hopes that it will open up to the wider one that will ultimately take them out of the city.

"Move it, people! Haul ass!"

Rey catches sight of a wide-eyed vendor pushing a cart as they run past one open alley and even as she's swinging her lightsaber again she hollers at him.

"You don't want to come this way!" when he looks as if he might actually be considering just continuing on his way with the damn bear in the vicinity. She hears rushing water ahead, but that's misleading to her, in this place. She'd seen fountains everywhere, and she's unfamiliar enough with the sound of moving water to not know if she can trust that as an indicator that they're heading in the right direction. All she can do right now is trust this other woman.

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gatheringstorm - 2016-07-24 23:05 (UTC) - Expand

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TEST DRIVE MEME!

Rey - Star Wars - Rifter

III

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II

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