[Open Post] No matter how feared...

[nogoldenmirror]

Who: Morrigan and you
Where: Around the temple
When: April 1st
Rating PG? PG-13? She's from a rated M game and there may be talk of fire, death, blood rituals, and war. All will be marked.
What: Waking up after a canon update nap is all fun and games until one realizes they're responsible for a small human-ish being.

Prologue CW: Fire, war, blood rituals.
The dream feels far too realistic for what it entails. Or perhaps, that is exactly why it does. It is far more vivid than most of her visits to the Fade, and she has no control over what she sees. Or rather, has no way to modify it. Yet she keeps focusing on how it's simply too real.

Morrigan can feel the warmth of the fire on her skin as she stares into the flames within the fireplace, hear the door open and his initial hesitation to accept her offer in his tone and see it in his body language as she sits on his bed and tells him what must be done. She can feel his skin under her fingertips when he finally agrees and she returns to him after locking the door. It... is easier, considering their mutual feelings for one another. She can even taste the desperation on his lips and realizes it isn't just his.

Allow me to say only one thing before we go.

Fire. Always more fire. The roar of a battlefield, the flames licking at buildings of wood and cobblestone. Amell choosing who to go with him, and naturally, he chooses her, Alistair, and Leliana, leaving the Qunari warrior in charge of those defending the gates.

I was foolish. The battle goes on and on, primal, entropic, and creation energies flung across streets and up stairways as they cut their way through the tireless horde. This could have been so much easier, yet I... Climbing the tower. -cannot regret what was between us. Watching him make the final blow against the corrupted high dragon. Years passing in the blink of an eye.

I will always remember you, my love.


( Closed to Keith )
( Closed to Shiro )

Open Option A
[It has been over sixteen hours in this place since she entertained the notion of food. Honestly, she likely should have headed here first. A fact which she attempted to inform her stomach. Unfortunately, it is still protesting the idea that she'll need it to keep up later. Evidently being half-starved doesn't simply go away even with additional memories from home. One where she needed to keep fed to also sustain a newborn.

Still, she has something that smells of soup brewing on the stove. Morrigan had started throwing it together without thinking, despite the carnival outside. She wasn't exactly in the mood for handling bigger crowds at the moment. Especially since she's still attempting to reconcile it within her head that two years equated to twelve hours.

When she catches the sound of someone else entering, she pauses.] Help yourself, if you please. 'Tis far more than I can manage. [Even if they hadn't just come from, well, that bloody excuse for a station. There's enough in the pot for at least five healthy portions after she poured herself a bowl. She'd grown far too accustomed to preparing large portions for the Wardens.

Of course, making beef stew takes time, so someone may just simply stumble upon her during the cooking process... should they steal themselves away from the madness without.]

Open Option B
[While the festivities are in full swing, Morrigan seers clear for the most part. Despite the scent of cookies nearly overwhelming her. Mm, she misses those so much. However, she has a task to accomplish and little time to do so. Thus she's wandering the temple grounds and later near the edge of the forest, seeking either a previous garden left unattended, or a good place to start a new one.

She's spoken about it before with a few others, of teaching others how to mix herbal remedies -- medicines, as some call it. That requires a steady supply of ingredients, and while she got an idea from Horologium of how to make a greenhouse even more efficient (despite the rot and decay when they first found the place), there is the problem of finding a location and then those with the know-how. That went without even mentioning the materials required, but who knew? Perhaps the next jump would be a fruitful one.

Of course, to an outsider, this likely simply looks like a wilder folk studying the ground for no apparent reason other than perhaps finding mud interesting... Make of it what they will. She's determined about something, at least. Albeit apparently distracted.]


(ooc: If anyone else would like to run into her another way, poke me on discord @ Twee#6092 and I'd be more than willing to work on something with you!)

Comments

[nogoldenmirror]

[the image is absurd, but she shakes her head with a chuckle instead of laughing outright. It's appreciated all the same. She pats the paw closest to her before it too becomes one, black fur rolling over her skin with the faint scent of smoke. A full-grown black cat sits where she did, before curling up on herself.]

If that is the case then why only roughly twelve hours? Would it not be easier to wake without this ridiculous sense of disorientation?

[...Yep. Still a survivalist. Some things time simply does not change overnight. Her ears flatten.] ...You could have finished your bath. I simply wanted a place to rest where I wouldn't be flung across a room or grabbed by vines.

[It's said as a joke, but she has had far too many experiences where napping anywhere as a cat typically wound up with her yeeted in some form another. She also didn't trust her own room for that very reason. What in this world did they have against house cats in this place; she'll never understand it.]

[spaceforged]

I had already washed up. I was just soaking. I can do that later. [He could climb into the bath in his room and let himself think in there. He has been doing a lot of thinking.

It beat letting the nightmares have him.

Shiro shifts his head, turning it to rest one cheek against his left paw. Being a machine after soaking in the bath for a while feels a little odd. He realizes he missed something when his thoughts turned inward and runs the conversation back over in his head. His glowing eyes dim in a squint.] It’s safe all over. What we have outside is a really tacky carnival festival. I think Astoria is trying to cheer us up but doesn’t have enough understanding of mortals to hack it.

[nogoldenmirror]

[A low tone of disagreement escapes her, but she says nothing on it. Her ear flicks slightly, eyes narrowing as her tail puffs up slightly.]

Experience tells me otherwise. [flick flick.] A miniature dragon and his owner, the vines prior to the last jump...

[...Okay and she might be slightly jumpy still from the nightmares. Now with the added memories, it's...]

...I can still taste the smoke and ashes on my tongue. He lived, by the way.

[spaceforged]

[He lifts his head to stare at her. She had gone through it. He knew she would but the outcome...

The light swirls then there's a man, pulling his bathrobe from the floor around him and setting his hand down near enough to her curled body she could touch it with a paw.]

So, what will you do now? [Shiro turns his head to look at her. She looks so small as a cat. He could pick her up in his hands or let her ride his shoulder. Shapeshifting is so normal to him now that he doesn't think to compare her small size to her human one.]

Other than come with me for a bit. I'll make sure no one disturbs you or tries to hurl you anywhere.

[nogoldenmirror]

[A quiet, upset hiss escapes her and almost at once she regrets it. She dislikes being so obvious with her emotions or vulnerable but for the time being this is better than most. Only other cats or shapeshifters would get it. At least, she hopes.

She has no idea if images can be passed through this so she doesn't try. Instead, she looks at the hand next to her and replies.]

You mean other than barely refrain from demanding to know why I was brought back as he found me again and coerced me to bring him along to another realm so that he could meet his son...? [There is hurt behind her anger. Neither subside when she looks up to meet his gaze. ...She'd never expected Amell'd keep the ring when she gave it to him, nor ask to help understand her when they found one another again two years later. The time between is still settling in her head, and-

She shakes her head, standing.] Here? Or back home? Because here, I promised to meet Keith later. Knife training. [She needs something to defend herself beyond claws when she can't shift into a dragon. That adventure in the space station taught her that much.] Back home...

Spend a year or two in between to let Kieran know his father, before he has to leave to find a cure. After which unless I find a way into your portion of the universe, and believe me, it is possible. We'll hide the last place anyone would think to find an apostate: imperial court. [Especially her, little Miss "The Fuck Is Courtly Manners?"]

[spaceforged]

[He doesn't look away, silent as she lets her hurt and anger out. Shiro runs his hand through his short hair, slicking his bangs back out of his eyes. He ducks his head to grin.]

I knew you two would get along. [Keith and Morrigan had seemed like two fighters cut from similar cloth. His grin eases into a small smile.]

And that sounds like a good plan. If you don't make it our way, you'll do fine in imperial court.

[Politics is all about will and maneuvering. Something she seems to do very well with.]

[nogoldenmirror]

[Her tail involuntarily curls upward. Ducking his head means she sees that grin far too easily. She pretends not to have seen it and licks her paw.]

To be quite fair, he gained a similar crash course on life in Thedas that you did when we first met. Evidently the worlds you visit don't often give information on their culture so freely. [She meows, before resting a paw gently on his hand. She doesn't make eye contact when she adds:] And I owe him.

[Were it not for Keith, she would have joined the dead in the last world jump. In fact, she would have been the first. Morrigan tilts her head out of curiosity, before shrugging.]

I admit t'would be hilarious to see their reactions to a woman who looks Chasind curtsying.

[spaceforged]

Exactly. You do what must be done and they won't be sure what to make of you. [Morrigan is a Power. He'd seen the way she approached problems and spoke to others. She would make enemies but everyone does.

Or his career wouldn't have been sacrificed to the wolves.

Shiro lifts a finger to tap the paw on his hand.] And yes, most of the time we're there to protect the worlds we visit then get moving. He hasn't been around for the more political side of things. He went special ops while we were doing that.

He'll take to it just fine now he's found his center.

[nogoldenmirror]

...'tis all anyone can do. [Morrigan looks up with big yellow eyes. She sees what he's doing there, and frowns. She won't show the uncertainty she feels deep down behind the bravado, but instead nuzzles into his wrist. Removing her paw from his hand in the process.

At least she's acknowledging him as a friend. Hopefully Shiro doesn't allow it to go to his head.]

And I've little doubt. He's more capable than I think he realizes. Don't tell him I said that, however.

[spaceforged]

I won't. He hears it enough from me as it is. [His smile curves up the corners of his mouth. He keeps the added thought, 'the same could be said of you'. The heat from the bath is soothing. He breathes in the steam secures his bathrobe a little tighter.

He should get dressed and go about the rest of his day.] How about for the rest of the day you tag along with me if you're going to stay as a cat. I have some reports to draft and no one will bother us in the office.

Except for Barabas, Keith, and Maes.

[nogoldenmirror]

[It's a good thing he doesn't because she doesn't need the ego boost. Even if he means it differently than she'd likely take it. Morrigan pauses, offering a slight shrug of her shoulders. Well, it's better than getting thrown again. Literally. Without consent.]

Thank you. [She says it as much for the confirmation that he won't say it to Keith, as she does the offer. She rubs her head against his hand again before taking a few steps away.] I will meet you outside, then.

[She needs another minute, and it will give him time to get dressed.]

[spaceforged]

[He nods. Once she departs he takes a moment to dry off and get dressed. He checks his boots as the steam swirls up from the hot water. He would soak later in private and ask Keith to work the soreness out of his back. A shiver runs down his spine.

He quells it and grabs his coat. He steps out into the hall as he pulls on his flight jacket. His off duty look has changed over the years but some part s still stay the same.] Okay. Ready?