The Calm & The Storm

[dual-dalish]

ranged-viper

Another day had come and gone with the clan, today was another chance to aid whoever might need it, or simply a chance to get to know the others better.

That is, unless she had to apologize for the antics her younger sister had been up to, hopefully it wouldn’t come to that today. Green eyes cast glances around camp and eventually landed on one of her fellow rogues, the one with tanned skin and blonde hair - Ne Zha. Erinuil’s little sister. 

The brunette approached the other and offered a small friendly smile, hands clasped behind her back.

“ Greetings, Ne Zha.” Ellinore still wasn’t sure if she was pronouncing the name correctly, but she figured that the other would correct her if needed, “Forgive me for possibly interrupting what you were doing, but I wished to see if there was anything you wanted help with? 

I am making my rounds around camp. .. Oh, and has Ariathel been pranking you lately? “

[dual-dalish]

please like for a starter with elli, or send me fanmail or an ask.

[dual-dalish]

“...Can mages fly on their staves...? I could pay one to try, but Cassandra would probably get mad. She and Cullen have been wary since Bull used the trebuchets for throwing stuffed nugs once.”

[dual-dalish]

“If I hadn’t owed Aryia a favour, I wouldn’t touch that --mind my Orlesian- royal fuck-up with a ten-foot polearm... Naaah, I'm not gonna touch it. Not for all the bees in the world.”

[dual-dalish]

“ Absolutely not. If you get to keep that many bees, then I should get to carry that many potions. So unfair.”

[dual-dalish]

“A problem easily solved. I’ll rig your belt, and you hide them from everyone else. No one needs to know you have extras, and the clan won’t even notice you using less! ...because, you know, you’re already using your own.”

[dirthenanu]

Try again, da’len. <3

[dual-dalish]

LET ME SLAP ME ENEMIES IN THE FACE WITH A JAR OF BEES

[dirthenanu]

“And then the jar explodes and the bees get on you too.”

[dual-dalish]

“IT’S WORTH THE PAIN, I SWEAR. Then again, I’m basically on fire half the time...”

[dirthenanu]

Try again, da’len. <3

[dual-dalish]

LET ME SLAP ME ENEMIES IN THE FACE WITH A JAR OF BEES

[dual-dalish]

Fears: Ghosts

Both of them are deathly afraid of ghosts, demons and most things to do with the Fade. The demon part got slightly better when the breach opened up, and it was only a matter of cutting down one’s own fears --literally. 

Disembodied voices, like the one heard from the Tiniest Cave would cause Ariathel to immediately faint on the spot while Ellinore shakes the latter’s shoulders, screaming, “ARI! DON’T LEAVE ME ALONE WITH THIS THING! WAKE UP! WAKE UUUUUP!”

[dual-dalish]

Why I need bees: A list of reasons by Ari

For reasons.

We don’t have warriors as tanks. Jars of bees are cannon fodder. Tanks have cannons. Bees are cannon substitute. 

That being said, I’m the one who fights close-quarters and is visible most of the time. Let me slap my enemies in the face with a jar of bees.

If you’re lonely, you can talk to them and they’ll buzz back.

They’re like the tiniest pets you can ever have.

I need them

Bees

[dual-dalish]

“ Now where has that nug gone..” Ellinore muttered to herself while wandering around camp, a rather annoyed expression written across her face. Pacing almost turned into stomping as said annoyance grew by the seconds, perhaps she had already been looking for quite a while?

“ By the creators, he always does this when it’s time to take a bath..how does he even manage to camouflage himself? “

Perhaps it was time to admit partial defeat and request help, so Ellinore heaved a sigh before walking up to another member of the clan.

“ Please forgive me for bothering you, but have you seen Ser Bare-Butt? It is time for his bath, but he is nowhere to be found.”

[dual-dalish]

“PLEASE ENCOURAGE ARI TO KEEP MORE BEES.”

[dual-dalish]

“ Absolutely not. If you get to keep that many bees, then I should get to carry that many potions. So unfair.”

[dual-dalish]

"Ariathel, I think perhaps you should take up beekeeping."

“Hahren, are you even serious?”

“Bees need fields and fields of flowers. Flowers, especially the ones I pick. There’s gonna be competition, and I don’t think a single elf can take down a swarm of dragon-killing bees, let alone the entire nest. Think about it —I give Izzy a garland to wear on her head, and then a buzzing mob of hungry bees attack her head for nectar. Not a fancy sight, even if that does seem kinda tempting if we replace the Izzy part with a regular human.”

“With all due respect, I think I’m better off procuring them, instead.”

[dirthenanu]

“Ah, so I suppose you’ve already considered that illicit coin being used towards your weapons and bees—” he spoke the word with obvious distaste.  “—might anger or disappoint June, thus causing you more trouble in the form of malfunction later.”

Oh but there was more he could touch on.  “Perhaps Fen’harel would feel welcome in your jars of bees.  If tricks were used to get them, he would feel right at home, wouldn’t he?  Surely he could persuade the bees to help him claim you.  Or do you suppose bees have more wits about them than the Creators?”

He sighed, his calmly-spoken rant coming to an end.  “Da’len, can’t you realize how selfish it is?”

[dual-dalish]

"Selfish because I use my own earnings, however illicit, to collect little things that make me feel happier and safer, even after setting aside part of said earnings for our trading purposes beforehand?”

There was no point in arguing. He could’ve had her thrown out of the clan if he wished, and only more unrest would follow. For the sake of unity, one of inferior rank needed to bow out.

“That I don’t cause anyone trouble by searching for said funds myself, instead of dipping into the clan’s almost-empty fund bucket for sake of personal gain? That I’m worried that I’d inadvertly cause us collective harm as a whole, should the Creators think it blasphemous that we invoke their names while our wheels or whats-its are paid through someone else’s thirty pieces of silver? I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty scared of that.”

One could compare her display to that of a petulant child’s tantrum at someone taking away their favourite toy at best, and this she knew. Still, if the keeper was bent on taking that away, then she’d at least make her own frustrations clear. What he did with it was his business.

"Alright. If that’s what you call selfish, then I’ll stop it." She said, unbuckling a belt on her waist. It took quite some effort to not twitch at the act, but she let her belt of grenades gently drop between them. That, and a sack of coins to go along with it.

“Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go —what did you call it? Ah, yes- goof off around camp.”

[ranged-viper]

➸  ▐ “That was more information on Kellan than I would have preferred to know. What Kellan does to ser Bull is for him and ser Bull only, and maybe my brother if he deems it important.”

[dual-dalish]

"Okay, you can fault me for giving a you terrible example to picture." She replied, with a roll of her shoulders. "Should've known better than to use other people as examples, eh?"

"How about a live demonstration? Oh, yes, that should fit really good. You ready for this?" Practically rolling on the balls of her heels and ignoring the archer's discomfort to her ill-chosen form of analogy entirely, Ariathel drew in a deep breath. 

"Breeeaaaaaaaaaaagghhh. Aaaaaauuuuuugh. Urreeeeah. Bleah. Yeah, they kinda sound like that."

[dual-dalish]

"Ariathel, I think perhaps you should take up beekeeping."

“Hahren, are you even serious?”

“Bees need fields and fields of flowers. Flowers, especially the ones I pick. There’s gonna be competition, and I don’t think a single elf can take down a swarm of dragon-killing bees, let alone the entire nest. Think about it —I give Izzy a garland to wear on her head, and then a buzzing mob of hungry bees attack her head for nectar. Not a fancy sight, even if that does seem kinda tempting if we replace the Izzy part with a regular human.”

“With all due respect, I think I’m better off procuring them, instead.”

[dirthenanu]

And there it was.

“Fenedhis!  You gamble with the shemlen?”  He sighed, running his hand down his face.  He had to choose his words carefully.  If he just agreed that drunken humans were easy pickings then nothing would be learned.  No wonder she had so much money for bees.

“You gamble with the shemlen,” he repeated, slowly.  “And then you use that money for bees.”  Hopefully she would come to the conclusion herself that gold could be put to better use.

[dual-dalish]

“Well, not just gamble! There’s a million things you can do with a drunk shem, if you cast aside the fact that we’ve got a name to maintain…”She started, though the Keeper’s disapproval ran her train of thought right off its wayward course. 

“Look, Hahren, would anyone even approve if we used that money for the clan? We need it, but it’s not exactly… earned through ethical means. We can use it to repair our aravel’s wheels, but what if Ghilan’nain doesn’t bless us the next time we set out on a course because it’s… well, touched by unethical elements?”

[ranged-viper]

➸  ▐ “What sound do the undead make?! Was that it?!”

[dual-dalish]

"Moaning, or groaning! That's the general way to put it, really. If you want specifics, it sounds unnatural. It's kinda pained, yet lacks emotion. Not like how Kellan sounds when he waddles out of dark places with Bull smirking behind him --oh, that definitely has emotion."

[dual-dalish]

“ Please don’t encourage Ari to keep more bees.”

[dual-dalish]

“PLEASE ENCOURAGE ARI TO KEEP MORE BEES.”

[charlesworthy]

Elli requested by toshiyaargh / Ari requested by endless-battlefield

ya’ll adorable