fadewalk | RP: Sigrun

Inside the mage tower and with the Envy Demon gone, Dagna could finally dedicate herself and her efforts into something else: Getting out of the Fade and (With Inquisitor Lavellan around, activating the Eluvian will be far more simple. Shouldn't be glad about it, but good thing she's here!), if possible, aiding with the Cure (Miss Neria is so, so happy with ser Alistair around - her husband it is, not the king or the ex-Warden - I can't possibly not help her with curing the taint. I know she doesn't think that way, but I owe her.)
(truth to be told, even when the envy demon was lingering in Skyhold she was already thinking and planning how to leave the Fade and how to aid with the Cure.)

A new wave of people had arrived at Skyhold and, more than finding a way out, she was wondering again what was transporting them in the first place. Was it possible that, even after their departure through the Eluvian, more people arrived in that Skyhold? The whole situation was indeed mysterious, but the little Arcanist was determined to, at least, leave hints and clues on how to escape (once it was figured).

She was conducting experiments on her new work table, Jäger sleeping soundly few steps to her side. The Veil Fire granade had been a huge sucess and the more means to fight demons, the merrier.

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"Right," Sigrun said, watching Dagna's next steps with big keen blue eyes without moving to help her. She swallowed.

"I'm gonna...just..." she waved a hand vaguely and leaned a hip against the table they were working in front of, proceeding to simply stand and stare.

Dagna was still blushing at her previous conversation with Sigrun, trying to hide it behind her work. But her usually confident and precise gestures when working seemed... odd. Rusty even.

By the Stone!
Sigrun was, of course, delightful and her company was much appreciated but right now, having her around was difficult. Dagna had never felt so strange around someone before.

Sigrun could tell Dagna was uncomfortable. Nervous about something, maybe? She frowned and scratched at the back of her neck.

Of course she is, a voice in her head scolded, with you just standing there gawking like an idiot. How's a body supposed to get any work done like that, I ask you? Branka's tits, Sig. Don't be an asshole.

"Sorry," Sigrun apologized immediately. "I'm over here staring and being totally unhelpful and you're just trying to work. Probably can't concentrate with me around breathing down your neck, huh? I'll just...go and...do something else. Sorry."

"What?"

Dagna gasped, her gouge falling from her hand with the sudden motion of her body, to look at Sigrun.

"Nooo! No, that's not it!" she motioned to recover the tool "I like having you around, really." then she realized her words "I-I mean..."

The Arcanist sighed.

"I don't know what have come to me, sorry."

Sigrun, already halfway across the room, stopped, looking a little perplexed by the strength of Dagna's reaction. She drifted back towards her.

"Um. Okay, I can - I can stay, then. If you're sure? I mean, I really don't want to be a bother. I know you have important things to do..."

She reached out to touch Dagna's arm and thought better of it, dropping her hand back to her side with a sigh.

"Stay, yes! Though it must be very boring to see me work..."

Dagna swallowed hard, staring Sigrun, glancing at the motion her hand and then back to her eyes.

"Don't know what else is left to do here, but..."

Sigrun grinned and pushed a few of the tools on the table back to make room for her to hop up and sit down. One thing she had to admit she liked about the surface - yes, everything was much too big, and yes, it did get annoying staring up at humans and elves all the time (she was always getting aches in her neck, truth be told - but she did get a particularly childlike satisfaction from being able to swing her legs around while sitting on tall things, since she inevitably was never able to touch the floor.

"Nah, it's not boring. I mean, I don't always understand what you're doing, but it's definitely not boring."

"Well... thank you. Not everyone has enough patience to stand me, my blabbing and the occasional explosion of my experiments. Aside from you, I guess only the Inquisitor doesn't run away in the first opportunity."

Dagna went back to her rune crafting.

"Truth to be told, she's not very normal, specially after that thing with the well... so, I don't know how much can she be considered a reference."

Sigrun picked up one of the chisels from where it sat on the table behind her and toyed with it between her quick fingers.

"Nah, I'm used to things exploding around me. I mean, I like to throw explodey things at bad guys. And then there was Dworkin. Dworkin Glavonak? I don't know if you'd have heard of him. He's a surfacer who used to live at Vigil's Keep. Had a penchant for blowing things up. Which could be damned useful sometimes, even if he was a bit of a hazard."

"I heard about him, yes. Making bombs with lyrium, right? Very unpredictable. The bombs, I mean."

Sigrun flipped the chisel into the air and caught it.

"Yeah," she agreed. "I think he had quite a lot of assistants die while he was working on the formula?"

"Well... that is... terrible."

She concluded, shrugging.

"Thank the stone my experiments body count is 'none'."

Sigrun set the chisel down again and gave a vigorous nod.

"You are quite the superior explodey crafter," she agreed, all seriousness, though her blue eyes sparkled. "I mean, just look what your grenades did to that demon!'

Dagna chuckled, clumsy.

"Thank you. I wasn't sure they would work, in fact. I'm glad they did."

Sigrun gave a wide grin at that and went back to peering at what Dagna was doing, with interest.

Dagna's skilled hands worked with care and precision to engrave the runestones, occasionally stopping to take more material or to sharpen the gouge.

"So... what is it like to explore Thedas? Travel to all places, meet new people and traditions...?"

Sigrun wrinkled her nose. "Wet, mostly. Usually cold. We spend a lot of time camping under the stars on rocky ground, and an awful lot of time walking. There have been interesting things - meeting new people, sometimes seeing the cities we pass through, but we don't really linger anywhere unless Neria is onto something there."

She laughed, putting her palms on the table behind her and leaning back on her hands. She kicked her feet. "I never thought I'd get to be the sort of person who missed things like real beds and baths - I mean, the luxury of having those things in the first place to miss, ha! But I do."

"Some of my favorite things are the ruins. And the libraries! We check out a lot of both, trying to find ideas and leads for the Cure. The elven ruins are like nothing I ever saw before I lived on the surface, and sometimes we get to go underground if we find dwarven ruins, which is always nice. Well, I think so. I don't think Velanna and Nathaniel agree with me there. And I've seen more books with my own two eyes now than I ever expected to in my lifetime. Sometimes I even got to touch them!" She sighed wistfully. "That was nice."

"I've heard legends about old, lost in time Elven Libraries!" Dagna widened her eyes full of admiration, inclining her body oh so slightly closer to Sigrun "I would give my arm to see one in flesh! Not that the Circle Libraries are bad, not at all. But I really feel bad for the mages, being locked up their whole lives for something they didn't do, for something they just... are."

The arcanist tilted her head, smiling a little.

"They were always so kind and receptive, eager to study and to learn. Also to teach! I can hardly picture them the way templars tries to."

Sigrun curled her lip in disgust and had to resist the urge to spit.

"Damn templars. Ask me, they're not any better than the nobles, or the Shaperate, or any of the rest of them that said we dusters were no better than nug shit just for being born. I don't hold with any of this 'the Stone and the Maker say you're just wrong' crap. I figure the mages are the closest thing the surface has got to casteless."

She frowned. "I mean, aside from the elves, of course, but people look down on elves as if they're lesser; they don't claim they were better off never existing in the first place or that they're cursed and sinful the moment they're born."

"For a god full of love for his creation, the Maker is rather a douch, isn't him?"

Sigrun laughed loudly, a little startled by this observation, but quite obviously delighted with it, her blue eyes going wide and mirthful. She looked for a moment like she wanted to clap Dagna on the shoulder or punch her arm or...something physically if a bit violently affectionate, but she pulled her hand back at the last second to avoid messing up Dagna's concentration and careful work.

"I've always thought so," she giggled. "But then I've never got the idea that you should worship an absent god. At least the Stone was always present, right?"

"Sure it is. If you want to worship a hard to please entity, at least They need to be there for you, right? And the Stone is there... everywhere. Can't say the same about the Maker or the Elven Gods. At least the Dalish admit their gods are absent, thought they don't understand why. Now after Corypheus, can't say the Chantry really knows what happened to the Maker, or the Black City, or anything else."

Sigrun nodded.

"I know some people get a lot of - comfort, or...whatever, from their gods. Me, though...it seems like the more I learn about them, and the more weird shit I see, the less I really understand that urge. If any of the gods exist, Dalish or human or the Stone or whatever, they're all assholes."

"Now, look at us, being all heretic." she chuckled "Which is really sad about it is... see, Andraste was awesome and all, she did do a lot of good things but... it's sad watch how people distorted her words to do as would please them. I often wonder if someday this will happen to miss Neria, or to the Inquisitor. They're shaping their time and, unless someone tells their story the right way, one day someone could use it as an excuse to do terrible things."

Sigrun frowned at that thought.

"Nobody wants to be forgotten when they're gone, and maybe being misremembered would be worse," she admitted slowly, after a thoughtful moment of silence. "But I don't know...all that seems so - so big, you know? I don't think you can stop people from being assholes. Somebody's always going to take what came before and twist it into a reason to be cruel, and to pretend other people are less. Just to make themselves feel bigger."

She shrugged. "I don't know if there's anything to be done about it except live your life as you should, and maybe in a way that will make you happy, and then know you did what you could."