Fade Rift: Inbox

[keenly]

you know what to do

Comments

[keenly]

[A soft sigh.]

If only everyone else would do the work for me so I could be a coward in peace, [he says petulantly, complete with a deliberate pout.]

[sulahnan]

[ Athessa huffs out a soft laugh and hooks her arm through his. ]

Someday you're gonna have to stop hiding. Someday.

[keenly]

It's safe to hide, [Colin whines softly as his arm provides a little tension to keep Athessa's hooked around it.] Honestly, you're right. The worst that can happen is still better than being alone all the time.

[sulahnan]

[ To make the arm-hook even more casual, but also harder to escape, Athessa keeps her hands in her pockets. Really, that's all she wants to be able to provide for her friends: the means to not be alone. (If she's destined for that, she can save them from it.) ]

And you've spent long enough in towers.

[keenly]

[Well, putting it that way feels rather like a punch in the gut. Colin goes quiet, and if she looks at him, she will see tears in his eyes. He nods with a little smile.]

You're right. Walls, too. Maybe I've just got into the habit.

[His free hand reaches to swipe the tears away.]

[sulahnan]

[ She doesn't have to look to guess that it's what she'll see. It's contained in his silence. So she spares him being seen and keeps looking ahead, her own fond smile lingering. ]

Ya know, [ she laughs, softly. ] I'm kinda nervous.

[keenly]

You’re the toughest person I know. [a gentle nudge with his elbow.] You never told me what you’re getting.

[sulahnan]

Oh, right.

[ The pain isn't what she's nervous about. But she pulls a folded paper from her pocket and unfurls it, holding it out for him to see. It's a chain of forget-me-nots and their leaves. ]

It's gonna go around my wrist here. Something to focus on when I need to come back to myself. [ Whoever that is. ]

[keenly]

That’s going to be beautiful. [he admires the drawing.] I love how elegant it is.

[sulahnan]

I copied it out of a book Isaac gave me*.

[ It's heartwarming to hear that it's going to be beautiful and elegant, things Athessa would not necessarily consider herself. (Loxley called her beautiful, once. It was nice.) ]

They seemed fitting, 'cos ya know. Forget-me-nots.



*Can't remember if he gave it to her or she found it and showed it to him pfff

[keenly]

For your clan?

[sulahnan]

That's part of it. Mostly it's just so I remember where I came from, where I've been, who I am, [ who she was, ] where I am now.

[keenly]

[He leans in to plant a kiss on the side of her head.]

That's perfect. And it's right where you can look when you need it. I should do that.

[sulahnan]

[ It's a sign that they're getting closer to Lowtown when that chaste little kiss gets a holler from some random passer-by in the street. Athessa, of course, hollers back and flashes a rude gesture their way, as is customary. ]

You should. Matty gave me the idea; he used to have these bracelets he wore, but they got burned up in the dining hall that day. [ Neither of them needs elaboration on which day she means. ] So I made him some new ones, just to ya know...replace something he lost. And he said Derrica'd given the first ones to him to remind him...

[ She shrugs the shoulder opposite the arm linked with Colin's. He can fill in the blanks for the reminder the bracelets served, since it's more or less the same as Athessa's reasoning. ]

But uh. It's hard to misplace a tattoo, so.

[keenly]

[Colin nods.]

Same day, Sawbones suggested getting a little quartz cluster for it. But you're right, you can't misplace a tattoo. [He glances at his own wrist.] I want to get one on my thigh but that's not something you can just look at except when...yes.

[A thought occurs to him, and he frowns slightly.]

Though having a mark that's easy to spot might be dangerous whenever I have to run from the Chantry.

[sulahnan]

Will you have to? Even with your phylactery gone?

[ She had thought, briefly, if a tattoo would be worse than the scar on her face as far as her bard training is concerned, but it's easier to hide things with gloves and sleeves than hide her face all the time. ]

[keenly]

A little after I came to the Circle there was a blood mage who managed to destroy his phylactery and run. They caught him.

[sulahnan]

...Well I hate that! [ Said lightly, amicably, like "thanks, I hate it." ]

Maybe I'll just make you a bracelet, too.

[keenly]

I'd like that. [A soft smile, then it's time to direct her to a specific house in Lowtown and push open the door. Inside is the artist.]

Tom, Athessa. Athessa, Tom.

[sulahnan]

[ She lets go of his arm before they enter, because she has to stand on her own two feet for this. The thing she is actually nervous about here isn't the pain or the possibility that she'll make a noise and prove to herself that she's not ready, but rather the idea that she should have tried harder to find a Dalish tattooist, or a Rivaini one. ]

Tom. Nice to meetcha. So were you a sailor or somethin'? How'd you get into the...tattooing. Business?

[keenly]

[There are, in fact, two men in the shop--a burly human carpenter working on fixing a chair, and a slim, black-haired elf sweeping the floor. The human glances up with a smile before going back to his work. The elf holds up a finger.]

Just a second, [he says.] Almost done.

[He sweeps the wood shavings into a pan and disposes of them before wiping off his hands and approaching.]

It's been passed down in my family, [he says casually in response to her questions.] Willem lets me use a room in the back so long as I keep the place clean for him. Did you have something specific in mind?

[sulahnan]

[ For a moment, Athessa is too surprised to answer, having assumed that Tom was the carpenter, not the elf. Some of that tension, the buzzing of her nerves, lessens with an exhale and she remembers herself enough to smile. ]

I do, yeah, [ The paper is handed over, and she tells him of the placement, the quick version of her reason behind it. It's a little rambling, so she shuts up and just lets Tom (what kind of an elf is called Tom) look at the design as she folds her hands behind her back. ]

[keenly]

[Tom motions for them to follow him to the back room, which is immaculate and well-lit. To be an elf who winds up with any human clients, even if the human is open-minded, has to be very special. He goes over some details with Athessa--specific petal shapes, for example, things that will make the work more distinct as it ages. Once that's all settled, he arranges his inks.]

Any personal details you want? Things that make it yours?

[sulahnan]

Like what?

[ She's happy to defer to his expertise, ultimately. It's hard to not be directly confronted with her inexperience — and perhaps ignorance of some level — when it comes to blood-writing. Tattoos, she corrects herself mentally. ]

I don't want it to make a complete circle. 'Cos ya know...rather not be bound, right?

[keenly]

I understand. So maybe wrap like...

[He traces a curved line around her wrist that never closes.]

Very simple, very timeless. Unless there's something specific you have in mind to add to it, I'd leave it like that. Keep it looking very delicate.