| Tell Me Your Legends and Stories | ||
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| Summary: Conversation in the Usual Restaurant turns towards legendary creatures and stories. You know, because Rayne's a phoenix and all.     |
Serenity slips into the room with a bit of a flourish, keeping 'wings' contracted thick and close to the sides while twisting in a tight helix that has belly above the mane of gill feathers. The motion is completed by flowing into a more ordinary and relaxed stance with both pairs of fins partly extended into the cloak of water. While Ren might not be able to tell game from personnel files by the sound, it just so happens that Ren is coming out from the dance club behind Rayne. "Hello," Ren rasps cheerily to her. Silencia wanders into the restaurant. She had spent her time wandering around, but she didn't go too far from the places she already knew, just in case. She had heard of possible dangers lurking around and she was not stupid enough to go throw herself into danger. She smiles as she sees familiar faces. She walks over to Rayne, sitting across from the colorful female. "We meet again!" Silencia's smile brightens as she also notices Serenity, waving friendlily. "Hello!" Even fabulous mages need to eat! Actually, particularly fabulous mages, since the energy for that magic's gotta come from somewhere. So it is that Dorian enters the Usual Restaurant, seeking sustenance! He wears his usual outfit, the leather outfit with the white cloak over it. And of course the staff slung on a strap around his torso. He pauses as he sees familiar folks inside, and offers a wave. "Greetings," he speaks up, with a bow. He knows Rayne and Serenity, but not Silencia-- yet! Rayne peers over her shoulder at Ren as she announces herself and smiles. "Hey, Ren! What's up tonight? Another successful study of dance?" Then the sound of the chair across from her seat being pulled from across her own seat is heard and she looks back towards the now seated Silencia. "Oh... Hey. Silencia, right? I heard you're actually Kotal's High priest now? We got a memo about it." She suddenly gets an odd look, as she realized she just said she got a memo from a god about getting a high priestess. Then she shrugs, because, well, welcome to Twisted and all. "So, uh, what's up?" And then the fabulous one himself announces his presence, to which she looks to him in response. "I suppose that goes for you as well. Yeesh, it's like you all just converged on me." She then frowns. "I mean, in the traditional sense, not the Twisted specific definition of converge..." "Successful, yes, but no particular study," Ren replies, extending a fin and running a wave though it like a human arm being brushed over an undulating surface. "Just entertaining myself." Ren flows in behind and to the side of Rayne, peering briefly at the computer screen before looking up at Silencia's greeting. "Hello," Ren offers her before looking a bit puzzled at Rayne's observation about Silencia. With Dorian's greeting, Ren lifts a 'wing' to mimic a sleeve-shifting wave of an arm to him. "Call it emergent group behavior," Ren remarks amiably to Rayne. "Indeed, as Rayne remarked before, it's a bit surprising to hear of peaceful service to a war-god. I'm curious what that involves." Silencia giggles softly at Rayne's reaction. She had to admit it was rather comical that three people arrived in such short time after eachother. The girl had learnt to accept things the way they are since she arrived in this place. She nods at Rayne's inquiry. "It appears so... though I'm still in training." Silencia glances at the unfamiliar man when he enters, bowing her head politely in greeting. "And greetings to you!" She shifts her attention back to Serenity as she also comments on her position as priestess. "My role seems to be more connected to the sun than to war... I've only had a slight bit of training though and I fear I'm not as knowledgeable as I can be yet..." "Ah! How rude of me, walking into a public place like that," Dorian notes to Rayne. There's a teasingly sarcastic note to his voice. He's not upset at her, no. He's just messing with her. He does that. Dorian offers a smile in return to Serenity's wave. "I do hope the day finds you well," he adds. And he too notes, "Silencia, was it?" he asks as he turns to the aforementioned high priestess. He listens to her explain, peering intently at her. "Indeed, we were told about you. Good to meet you finally." With an elegant bow, he offers by way of introduction, "Dorian Pavus, Altus mage of Tevinter." As for her role? "I noticed you do possess a certain... aura about you." In fact, so does Dorian. He leans towards fire and lightning, though he's not elemental per-se. Rayne waves a hand. "Fine, fine, 'emergent group whatever'. I'm glad you had fun, at the least," she tells Ren with a slight grin. It appears Rayne is playing some kind of card game on her laptop right now. She then looks back to and nods at Silencia. "Okay, sure. I always forget he's a sun god, as well. That can work... though honestly when I think priestess of the sun, for some reason blonde hair comes to mind, not black." She shrugs. "But that's just bad stereotyping, I guess." As Dorian introduces himself to Silencia, Rayne deadpans, "You may or may not get used to Dorian. No promises." She then raises an eyebrow and looks at him more directly as he mentions 'aura.' Serenity returns a nods and a smile to Dorian. "Now the sun, I have more appreciation for," Ren remarks to Silencia, shifting a chair out of the way to 'kneel' by the table. "With these new members, it seems we still have quite the concentration of magic in the TASK patrollers." Ren glances to the others at the table and says with an amused tone, "Should I expect training to involve shielding from flaming arrows using butterflies, which are then turned into cups of lime-flavored dessert for Minu to drop?" Silencia glances back and forth between Rayne and Dorian, the girl slightly amused at their interactions. When Dorian introduces himself, Silencia smiles and answers his bow with a fluttering wave of her hand while bowing her head. "Nice to meet you, as you've heard, my name is Silencia." She blinks when the man mentions her aura and she seems to be confused. "How can you tell? I've always been careful to conceal it..." A habit from her old life, she was surprised that Dorian noticed her aura, he must be rather powerful. Silencia pouts at Rayne's words, playing with her hair, a slight tug at the corners of her mouth showing that she's joking. "Ahh, such a shame, I am not deserving of this title, for I posses the wrong color of hair!" Her pout breaks into a grin. Silencia can't help but laugh at Serenity's suggestion about her training. "I should ask about that, it sounds useful!" "Please. 'Getting used to me' insinuates I'm ever bland enough to be ignored," Dorian points out. "THAT will never happen." He smirks. Serenity's mention of 'new training' due to more mages gets a chuckle. "I hope not. Though I can try to enchant a talisman against certain types of magic for you if you like." Silencia's words get that smirk again. "I can trace my ancestry to mages who could walk in the Fade of their own power, you see," he explains. "Also I'm fairly certain the plants are straining against their roots to get to you, so there's that." By contrast, Dorian makes no effort to conceal his magical presence in the slightest! Rayne winces at Serenity's mention of training, for some reason, at the point of flaming arrows. A bad memory is in there somewhere. "I guess you're right. TASK has become a bit magically oriented... though Minu's... green mess is hardly magical." Rayne, for her part, doesn't particularly hide her magical nature... but certainly doesn't flaunt it, either. That said, she turns to look at Silencia as the talk turns to her magical nature. "Ehh? What do you mean? There's more to you than just your butterfly spellwork?" She kind of looks between Dorian and Silencia as she asks this. Serenity appears somewhat puzzled by the talk of auras, but doesn't remark on it. Ren does smile by her remark about hair color stereotypes. "I may take your offer sometime, Dorian," Ren says, motioning with an upturned pair of fin edges towards him. "At the moment, I quite hope that won't be necessary." With Rayne's question about Silencia, Ren looks inquisitively from one to the other. Silencia seems amused by the mage, his cheerful demeanor was something she liked. She seems a bit embarrassed that her magic was so easily sensed, especially by someone who was rather flamboyant about it. Rayne's reaction to the talk about Silencia's magic earns a small smile, the girl still a bit embarrassed. "Yeah... to be honest, I'm not yet sure what I'm capable of... but at the moment, I seem to have an effect on the nature around me as well..." Silencia felt just slightly uncomfortable, because she had spent her whole life hiding her magic and now it seemed to be the topic of the eve. Silencia smiles sheepishly as she shrugs "I don't really know where it comes from... the tricks I can do at the moment are powers I just accidentally figured out...The butterflies being the easiest to control..." Dorian notes, "Perhaps not magical, but don't underestimate the usefulness of a good distraction. Especially something slimy to the face." He nods to Serenity's words of the talisman. "Do let me know," he replies. "I'll need time to prepare it, so if you need it for a mission, I would encourage you not to expect it finished the next day." A smirk. Though he assures Silencia, "Not to worry, there's no need to be embarrassed. Everyone was a beginner once. Even me!" He says this as though it should be a surprise. "I might be able to help you a bit with that. Mind, I doubt your magic comes from the Fade, but the channeling techniques may be similar." Rayne says, "You were able to just figure it out on your own? Cool... With the exception of some little fire bolts, it took me a lot of training to get anything at all." She then narrows her eyes and looks to the side, though not at anyone. "...And then I cut my own training short. Now I feel like maybe I should have stuck around for some more training from that old coot." There goes Rayne, talking about someone a quarter her own age as an 'old coot' again. It really is all about how old you feel. "But if you've some aura thing drawing plants that naturally... Does that make you more than human?" She tilts her head to the side as she asks this, then blinks, realizing she might want more clarity. "Like, how I'm a phoenix? I mean, that's how I had that fire affinity." She then smiles at Ren. "You doing okay with us talking about destroying the laws of physics over there, Ren?" Serenity nods in reply to Dorian's caution about preparation time and appears to listen attentively to Silencia's description of her abilities. Even while mostly sitting still, Ren's fins slowly wave station-keeping motions within the irregular column of water. Ren grins with Rayne's question. "If I'm not mistaken, I think that you three may be destroying the laws of physics in ways that operate on entirely different sets of rules." Ren then adds to Dorian, "By the way, 'something slimy to the face' is something of a natural defense mechanism in my kind. Just don't ask for a demonstration without the danger." Silencia smiles at Dorian as he offers his help with her magic. "That would be nice, I am grateful for any help I can get with my magic!" Silencia pauses when Rayne mentions the possibility of Silencia being more than human. "To be honest, I know nothing of my ancestry... Kotal Kahn had mentioned that he suspected that I have a fairy ancestry, but I'm not sure..." She then pays closer attention to Rayne. "A phoenix? Really? That's amazing! Do you regenerate through flames?" Silencia seemed excited at the concept of Rayne being a phoenix, she had only heard of those in stories and it interested her to say the slightest. "Figuring out magic on one's own isn't unheard of in Thedas," Dorian replies to Rayne's mention. Thedas being his home world. "It is, however, illegal. The Chantry believes that mages who aren't beaten into submission are a danger to the people." He rolls his eyes, clearly not sharing that opinion. Which is probably understandable considering he's a mage himself. Serenity's mention of her defense mechanism gets a laugh. "Not to worry, I'm rather firmly in the camp that tends to avoid slimy things to the face," he assures her, with a smirk. Silencia gets a smile, and he nods to her mention of having a faerie ancestor. "I'm to understand that having magical abilities naturally is odd in other worlds. If it is in your world that is possible." He also seems interested to know if Rayne regenerates in flame. "That is a good question. If so I might be of use to you, with my fire magic." Rayne says, "I think I'll avoid a demonstration of that particular natural ability, Ren." At Silencia's own explanation, Rayne tilts her head again. "Fairy? That sounds odd. I thought they were supposed to be tiny... Then again, that's just what legends said in my own universe. And different universes get... pretty odd compared to each other. But yes! If I were to die, I'd regenerate my body in an explosion of fire, always returning my body to exactly as it was the first time I died... Though if I'm not really concentrating, I usually show up in bird form first." She blinks. "The, uh, bird thing is something I hardly ever do, but I can be a bird if I really wanted to." She shakes her head to Dorian. "The regenerating fire is kinda automatic, so don't worry. Just... don't let me die by drowning. Or in the vacuum of space. If there can't be fire, I can't regenerate... and if I were to die more than once every thirty days or so, I'd be dead dead, too." She then points to her own hair. "My father said the odd hair and eye color has to do with me being a phoenix... his hair kinda looks like fire." Serenity seems to listen thoughtfully to the discussion of magical development and seems unsurprised but still interested and attentive to the details of Rayne's magic. "Indeed we don't have fairies, magic, or flaming reincarnations where I am from," Ren mentions, "though I'm familiar with at least some basic notions from mythology and recent experience." Ren motions toward Silencia, "For example, I understand that, thermodynamics or no, magic usually seems to involve paying a price of some sort. I wonder if perhaps there are some aspects of your magic that you've yet to discover. Maybe it would be prudent to have a trusted person try to find weaknesses and limitations?" Silencia ponders Dorian's and Rayne's words. "If there were fairies in my world, they must've been good at hiding, because I never heard of them outside of fairy tales... The same with magic." She then turns to Rayne. "Exactly! I thought the very same, so that's why it struck me as odd! Maybe there are different kinds of fairies though?" Silencia listens carefully as Rayne explains her regenerative powers, flinching. "That sounds like that must hurt. A lot." When Serenity speaks, the lovely creature makes Silencia smile. "I did notice that, whenever I try to learn something new, I have physical responses, like dizzyness. Your idea is a very good one though! Maybe I could ask Kotal Kahn about it..." "Oh, so you don't literally regenerate when on fire?" Dorian seems to be asking this question seriously. "That's a pity, I hoped I could make a pun on the term 'friendly fire'." He chuckles. Serenity's mention of a 'price' for magic gets a nod. "There most definitely is for my sort. Mine comes from the Fade-- sort of a spirit world. The problem is, there are demons there too. Draw too much power at once and you risk attracting their attention. From there you have a whole list of 'fun' possibilities." The tone indicates that he doesn't find any of those possibilities truly fun. Silencia's mention of hiding gets a nod. "Or they lived in a separate world, the way the Fade is separated from the physical world of Thedas." As for Silencia's physical issues when using her powers? "Magic is like a muscle," Dorian explains. "If you've never used it before, once you make it work the first time, it hurts. But the more you flex it, the more accustomed you become to using it, and the less soreness results." Rayne frowns. "Yeah, that's the thing... When I'm human, the fire still hurts fully, it just doesn't... I don't get burns. It doesn't really harm me, despite the pain. But again, it does still hurt like hell, so yeah... don't set me on fire, please. It's really painfully annoying. When I'm a bird, it's just fine, though." She tilts her head again as she ponders something. "Ren, have I ever asked you about mythological creatures of your people? I don't think I have. I think I remember something about an airborne predator, but that might not have been mythological." She then shifts her gaze back to Dorian again. She's just too jumpy in her attention today! "The only soreness I got when learning magic was headaches, but somehow I don't think it was the magic directly, but more dealing with my teacher." Serenity gives Silencia a puzzled look as she explains, then nods in reply to Silencia's training idea. "That seems quite odd, and perhaps a bit lonely, to never see anyone with better versions of the skills that you learned on your own," Ren observes thoughtfully. Dorian's mention of 'fun possibilities' gets a frown and a nod. "No, no airborne predators any significant size," Ren answers Rayne. "I do seem to recall wondering aloud what the mythological parallels of 'turning into a bird' would be in my culture, but I didn't every settle that issue. I could share a whole collection of mythological creatures. Was there something in particular you wondered about? Giant monsters? Tricksters?" Silencia listens with interest to the conversations around her. She had learned so much since coming here and she had a feeling that her learning only just begun. The training she had earlier that day started getting to her though and the girl could feel that she needed to retire before she fell asleep at the table. She gets up, rubbing her eyes to keep them open. "I'm sorry, but I should go... I'm terribly tired all of a sudden.." She smiles to Dorian "It has been nice meeting you!" She then waves to Serenity and Rayne. "See you around, hopefully I'll have more tricks to show next time!" She then walks out quickly, really needing to get to a place where she could rest. Dorian laughs, amused at Rayne's frown. "I'll remember not to set you on fire," he promises Rayne, still chuckling. As for headaches? "It could have been, depending on how infuriating your teacher was," he agrees, teasingly. More seriously, he adds, "However, headaches while dealing with magic isn't unheard of either." He notes Serenity's frown, and notes. "Yes, exactly," he replies flatly. "A demon attempted to possess me before. It didn't end well for him." Silencia expresses being tired, and he nods. "Do take care, Silencia," he offers to her as she departs. Rayne shrugs to Ren. "I had no real clue what existed at all for your people, so I guess they'd all interest me. I mean, with Tyrians, it was dragons this, dragons that. Tyrian noble houses are supposed to be descended from dragons, and all that. Still, plenty of stories of those already passed. Ghosts, zombies, vampires... From what I've seen, they all seem pretty universal tropes." She blinks as Silencia suddenly gets up and leaves. "Huh... I suppose some people don't feel tired until it's nearly too late?" The rainbow-haired woman shrugs, then frowns at Dorian. "Did you lose control of your body? That sounds... nightmarish." She shudders slightly. "The thought of someone else taking over and just doing what they want with it..." Serenity nods to Rayne with her remark on myths. Ren looks briefly surprised by Silencia's leavetaking but replies with a smile and "I look forward to that." Ren then looks back to Rayne and motions fin edges toward her. "I'm hardly an expert on the subject of mythology, but perhaps I can tell a few stories of the living dead properly for you sometime. The imagine of a giant filter-feeder crossed with a predator, perhaps something like a dragon, is certainly a common cultural image." Ren motions to Dorian, "I'm rather concerned myself about this supernatural disease if it's an occupational hazard of your style of magic." "I've started to read about the mythological creatures of other worlds," Dorian replies. "And we don't have nearly the amount of scary mythological monsters other worlds do. Then again the things other world call myth and legend tend to be real in Thedas. Though I've yet to see a Thedan vampire." As for possession? "Oh no. He didn't possess me. He tried. But he was ever so polite before that, so I can hardly hold that against him." He looks in the direction Silencia went. "If her abilities are anything like mine, she just needs rest. It can be draining." Serenity's words of a 'supernatural disease' get a chuckle. "The amount of magic required to call the attention of a demon is rather fantastical. I can draw that much power at a time, but I rarely have need to. Besides, it make my teeth buzz." Rayne says, "Well, yeah, I mean, what most people think are mythological. Phoenixes are clearly real in my universe, as are dragons. My dad said there are a lot of others out there, too. I'm not so sure demons and vampires exist in my universe, though. Actually, I can't say I've come across any sort of undead, and I'm not aware of anyone that had..." She then leans forward slightly. "So what I'm gathering is that you're from a medeival, swords-and-sorcery type of universe, yeah? That's kind of a story trope in my universe... do you have story types of universes like Ren's and mine? With travel among the stars, each star its own sun?" Serenity appears rather surprised by Dorian's nonchalant recounting of the incident. "I seem to recall Doommuffin," For Dorian, Ren indicates a three-foot height with extrusions from the trailing edge and middle of one pair of fins, "describing the living dead as common threats where she is from. And there is that matter of the pet spirit." Ren nods at Rayne's question and adds, "Or is your universe one that's simply more amenable to being understood in siple stories?" "That's one way to describe it, yes," Dorian agrees to Rayne's mention of 'swords and sorcery'. Though the question of 'story-type universes' gets a thoughtful 'hmmm'. "Not exactly. We've been told how glorious the kingdom of the elves was, before it fell. Of course I was taught that Tevinter brought the corrupt elven empire to its knees, but that's possibly not completely true." He tilts his head at Serenity. "Doom muffin?" he asks. "That's an odd name." Noting the height, he asks, "A dwarf?" Gnomes aren't a thing in Thedas, he'd probably be excused for not knowing. "What do you mean by 'simple stories'?" Dorian inquires. "Trust me, the stories I've herd are not simply by any means." Rayne seems almost disappointed that Dorian's world doesn't have science fiction, or at least space operas. "So still stories based on what happened in your specific world, taught as possible fact? Huh." She looks over at Ren again. "I had the... pleasure... of talking to her once." From her tone, it definitely wasn't a pleasure. "She said she was undead herself. And no, Dorian, she's a gnome. There is a dwarf running around, but he's not nearly as short. Or creepy. Or really on our list of possible threats, for that matter." Serenity nods in agreement with Rayne's explanation. "To be fair, she seemed pleasant enough to me... while not speaking of feeding... or experimenting," Ren adds, looking to Rayne. Ren then nods to Dorian. "Perhaps simple was not the word I was looking for. 'Natural' or 'intuitive' might be closer. Perhaps it's not a bright line of distinction, but I am accustomed to 'myth' that flows naturally along with intuitions to teach about one's culture, and 'theory' that often fights intuition to describe the universe accurately." "Most of our stories are either religious stories about Andraste and the Maker, or cautionary tales about various threats," Dorian replies. "We've apparently got enough of the fantastical that's either true, partially true, or possibly true that we don't need to create stories about new ones. Though, I should see if the bookstore has anything by the one who wrote about the Champion of Kirkwall-- Varric Tethras, I believe his name is. The author, not the Champion." Serenity's words get a nod too. "Well, yes. As I said, our 'myths' tend to be expanded-upon historical accounts. Sometimes 'expanded-upon' means 'embellished to the point of complete fiction', but yes." Rayne stifles a yawn. "Well, guys, I'm going to leave you two to continue this conversation." She closes her laptop up. "But much like Silencia, I think I'm in need of a good night's sleep at this point." She stands up with a light stretch. "So you two keep talking about myths. I want a full report on my desk tomorrow morning." She's kidding of course. Right? Yeah, she's got to be kidding. Placing her laptop into its carrying case, she starts heading for the door, waving as she goes. "Goodnight, you two." | |
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