#emeraldmarked

@emeraldmarked​ said:Spindleweed and rashvine for eryn

spindleweed :: had your character ever been grievously wounded or ill before? what was their memory of that occasion?

she was five when fever struck her home; when it buckled all but her father, who gave up tending the crops to care for his ailing family. it is the only time she can remember him holding her close while the healer worked over her mother. mama needed the most tending, being that she was carrying a babe, and eryn and maira could wait. her father sent the farmhands away, sent them home, lest they bring the illness to their families. 

it burned through the ainsleys like a fire, leaving the three ladies of the house shaking, and worn, and thin. that’s why they take such good care of brendan, maira says. because they almost lost him and mama. eryn always shoots back, he almost lost all of us, and what would he have done then? still, when the illness had passed, she, at five years old, had taken her milk buckets and with shaking knees gone back to work while her sister helped mama, and her papa called the farmhands back.

--

rashvine :: who/what is the one thing or person your character simply cannot stand?

eryn, fetch the milk. eryn, darn these socks. eryn, go help your brother. help your sister. help your father. make some supper, dear. this is what you’ll have to do once you’re a wife.

if this is what she has to do, then why isn’t her mother doing them as the lady of the house? she wants to ask. why must eryn learn to do everything, why hasn’t maira learned any of this? her sister gets to flirt with the blacksmith’s son, and travel with papa to bigger cities, and flirt with boys there, too. (redcliffe village is work, rynnie. here’s a copper for some ribbon for your hair,  don’t tell your mama.)

her mother reminds her constantly how much better maira is than eryn, how much smarter, and prettier, and more graceful, maira is than eryn. maira will have no issues getting a husband who can afford servants, mama says. but girls like eryn? they need to learn to work. she’ll be lucky if the baker’s son down the road wants her hand in marriage. girls like eryn? they don’t get happily ever afters like maira will. that’s all, dear, i’m just preparing you for life as a wife. as a mother. as a lady of the house.

eryn smiles. she smiles and she does what she’s told, but in her heart, a small black spot festers every time her mother brings up how much more perfect maira is. not towards her sister - maira has never done anything cruel to eryn, she brings baubles back from her suitors for her little sister, and insists on bringing her to town when all the boys would rather leave her behind. and eryn appreciates that. she loves maira, though they often disagree on things.

but, if she never happened to speak to her mother again?

@emeraldmarked

The young hunter stared blankly at her for much longer than was probably necessary. There were hundreds of things running through his mind. Strategies, risks, chances of survival if they chose to flee. He was considering, calculating, and forming educated guesses of the outcomes to them all right there as he stared at his fellow elf. 

The problem at hand was templars, the kind that turned into disgusting freaks of nature and behaved like the undead. Talwinne didn’t know what they were called, only that he didn’t like them. Liawyn was a mage--so he wasn’t sure what kind of training she had outside of her magic. He was equipped with a bow and a few knives for close corners--but he wasn’t confident in how they might fare against one of those horrors, nor did he want to risk exposure from the red lyrium. 

Not for Liawyn at least, they needed her alive. 

When Varric had told Ethan about Corpheus’ attack on Haven, the Champion of Kirkwall hadn’t hesitated. His first meeting with the Inquisitor had been quite QUICK, but it was normal; Corypheus was a terrible threat. He was convinced he had defeated him, killed him, but it seemed like it wasn’t the case. Ethan would do everything in his power to change that though.

Once Varric was gone, Ethan decided to keep talking with the Inquisitor. He was a TALKATIVE person, and it was important for him to get to know people he was working with. He would not spend years in Skyhold like he had done in Kirkwall, but that wasn’t a reason to stay silent.

@emeraldmarked​  said:“where did all those bruises come from?”

changing in a campsite has long since stopped being a problem for elissa, and she’s sure it’s much the same for the inquisitor. she does pause, however, at the question, lips pulling into a slight frown.

@emeraldmarked

“You’ve done much to help everyone of Thedas since this mess started, do not doubt that Inquisitor.”

There was a smile on her face, but her gaze didn’t leave the book she was writing in unless it shifted to the artifact on the table beside her—then it was back to the book to scrawl a few notes. Viola respected the Inquisitor greatly, going to extreme lengths to be useful among the inquisition’s ranks as an arcane expert, so the gesture of not meeting her eyes was more one that the mage was already so focused on her artifact. Each time she returned to the magical talisman before her, she’d wave her hand over it like she was casting a spell, fingertips glowing a soft blue as the talisman mimicked the hue in short pulses. She’d then would go back to scratching notes with her quill.

A few more notes later and she put the quill back into its well, taking just another moment to rid herself of a few pops in her spine. Her hands showed evidence of being at her research all day, delicate fingers contrasted against hard-worked calluses, and her hair haphazardly falling out of its ponytail. Face tensing as she resisted a yawn, she turned in her chair towards the other.