learnfromlittlethings

[learnfromlittlethings]

[learnfromlittlethings]

Playlist for Alim bc shh

like real people do // hozier

I had a thought, dearhowever scaryabout that night, the bugs & the dirtwhy were you diggingwhat did you burybefore those hands pulled me from the earth?I will not ask you where you came fromI will not ask & neither should youhoney, just put your sweet lips on my lipswe should just kiss like real people do

sway // blue october

we swaygrabbed her by the hips and handthen off we wentacross the sanded floorshe said “that’s not sand, it’s salt;it will get worn like we did before”I only wanna dance with youevery time I trywe only get an hour or soit’s time to get personalwe’ve got these times of our liveslet’s take this time to let it showcause these are ours. 

tongue tied // grouplove

take me to your best friend’s house, going round this roundabouttake me to your best friend’s house, I loved you then & I love you now

wish you were here // pink floyd

how I wishhow I wish you were herewe’re just two lost souls swimming in a fishbowlyear after yearrunning over the same old groundwhat have we found?the same old fearswish you were here.

emotionally yours // bob dylan

come baby, find me, come baby, remind me of where I once beguncome baby, show me, show me you know me, tell me you’re the one**I could be unraveling wherever I’m traveling, even to foreign shoresbut I will always be emotionally yours.

[learnfromlittlethings]

witchaf:

“alim. what did i say about speaking to me before midday, and especially disturbing my slumber with your ridiculous non-problems?”

“I’m pretty sure it’s midday already. --You can’t save the world if you sleep half the day, Morrigan.”

[learnfromlittlethings]

witchaf:

                                               “no.”

  “Morrigaaaaan...”

[learnfromlittlethings]

witchaf

“Morrigan... Moooorrigaaaaan... Are you awake? Alistair doesn’t think I’m a hot fairy!”

[learnfromlittlethings]

“EXCUSE YOU, I AM A HOT FAIRY.” - learnfromlittlethings

[learnfromlittlethings]

Alim has rarely thought of how Morrigan is older than him-- he is cocky and he likes to think he is mature enough when it is needed. He refuses to admit that suddenly leaving the world he knew and stepping out into a world he doesn’t has proven to be a little more than he bargained for, since he doesn’t have the time to explore and learn without all the darkspawn around. But surely, Morrigan doesn’t have much more experience than him, despite the age?

“No, I didn’t,” he protests, straightening up. “Nobody told me I was making a choice! So I’m making it now, and I choose you.”

Morrigan can say, with absolute conviction, that never before has she been so struck by Alim’s age - and level of maturity - relative to her own. Of course, she can hardly claim to be any more well-versed in the intricacies, the maddening complexities of romance, having known only the companionship of an ancient abomination and the Wilds that welcomed her so for years upon years, but… she feels no compulsion to sow her proverbial wild oats. Few would accuse her of being any sort of romantic, of painting an idealized version of relationships as a young girl, and she was inclined to agree. Her mother’s bedfellows scarcely lived to tell the tale, so the thought that simple monogamy might be a difficult requirement to fulfil seemed outright ridiculous to her.

Is this simply another side effect of the sheltered upbringing one receives in the Circle? Quite the compelling argument for liberation.

“Perhaps therein lies the dilemma, then. I suppose ‘tis the nature of the beast to wish both dalliances and commitment, but, to your misfortune, I cannot allow both. You made your choice.”

[learnfromlittlethings]

“Why Orlais?” he asks with a disgusted frown on his face. “If we conquer something, can we pick a country that’s a little bit more... interesting? Rivain, maybe? Antiva? The Nevarrans are too good at this dead-thing, that won’t work.” He only smiles at Tamaris’s comment. That is a good point.

“Tamaris, I’m fairly sure being attacked by an army of undead will hurt them.” He goes quiet. The way Tamaris talks about necessary risks, it’s almost horrifying-- but Alim knows, too, that they can’t save the entire village. The other mage is simply more open about it. “--Right. Let’s go.” He stands up and gently grabs Tamaris’s arm to pull them up, too.

--

The Bann, unfortunately, seems to have no alternate routes. Well, shit. Somehow, Alim was sure this would work. He’s the Arl’s brother, isn’t he? And there must be secret routes into the castle. Isn’t that what castles are about? --Maybe actually having visited a castle before would be useful here.

He glances at Tamaris. Maybe something would help the Bann’s, or even Alistair’s memory? “In that case, we did everything for the village that we could. We can’t stay any longer, or with the civil war and the darkspawn going on, we risk not reaching Orzammar in time.” “Wait, you’re not seriously--” Alistair protests, but Alim interrupts him sharply. “Tamaris, we got all the supplies we could, didn’t we?” 

Sulfur & Saltpeter

“Well, whenever you get that done, let me know and we can go conquer Orlais,” Tamaris replies, eyes flicking up to meet Alim’s at last. Their deadpan tone is belied by the teasing smile spreading across their face. ”It’s not as if anyone will miss it.”

“What the villagers don’t know won’t hurt them. Much. If someone asks, I’ll tell them it’s easier to fight when you can see what you’re shooting at.” Their fingers drum silently on the table. Maybe easier was relative but they could deal - could - survive - seeing the faces. “If anyone keeps asking stupid questions, I’ll tell them the truth. Without something giving orders, undead tend to just be plain old dead if there isn’t something conveniently alive running around within earshot. Cut off the head of the snake, and the rest falls. Any potential repercussions are a… necessary risk.” Most of the skeletons in the ruins hadn’t wanted to do much unless you stepped on someone’s shin, and in the tower they weren’t much more active than that except for - dining hall strewn with dozens of dead, flies still buzzing around upended plates, must have been a mealtime when - when commanded by a far greater force than a few misplaced hunger demons.

They’re staring again, not at Alim but through him and past. Tamaris drags their hand down their face, every muscle reset into a serious expression by the time their elbow returns to the table. Focus. “We can ask the bann about alternate routes. If anyone in this village would know, it would be him.”

[learnfromlittlethings]

Alim rolls his eyes at Tamaris’ answer and their tone. He notices Tamaris ignores the other question, but he only acknowledges it with a pout and decides to postpone the topic. He’d like to believe they will have time to discuss it later.

"I’m working on it, but I fear it will take a few more years,” he answers sarcastically. Waking one of the dead for a short time is far from an undead army. He listens to Tamaris and a frown gradually appears on his face. “So you want to lure the dead out of the castle. Are you planning to tell the defenders of the village about that plan of yours, too?” He shakes his head and stares at Tamaris’ fingers drawing on the wood. 

“You are right, though. It doesn’t matter much whether the dead attack now, or in a few hours-- I doubt the villagers will be any more ready later. But you’re the one convincing them of that,” he says finally as he leans back in the chair. “I still think we should ask someone who actually knows the castle about alternate routes. Even if we draw most of the dead out... we don’t know how much is most. We don’t know how many of them are still in the castle. The front gate is just a bad idea.”

Sulfur & Saltpeter

“Of course I’m right,” Tamaris says loftily. They sidestep the other question, let Alim keep going while they rearrange their thoughts. Stupid to not notice, to even be surprised in the slightest. It was just that Alim’s numerous crushes had always been directed at other people. Then again, a slightly hysterical part of their brain prompted, he was more or less out of other apprentices to fall for. 

“If either of us had an undead army, getting rid of this one would be much easier,” Tamaris retorts, waving Alim’s skepticism and their own dark thoughts away. “As is, we’re going to be fighting an undead army no matter what. When is a technicality. And I wasn’t thinking about marching in, exactly. A little needling could incite whatever’s keeping the undead holed up in the castle to take a more, ah, proactive approach regarding this whole mass-destruction thing. Which would get the majority of the undead army out of our way for at least long enough to figure out what’s going on in the castle. Find the source of the undead, or better yet, what’s controlling them.” They trace the grain of the wood without looking up, marking out barricades and river and chantry in their mind. None of it would hold forever - even the Chantry’s doors, after all, were but wood. But it might hold long enough. “Look, if you don’t like my idea, Alim, come up with a better one.”

[learnfromlittlethings]

necessityofsacrifice

So the Spirit skill tree has the Animate Dead skill, and I’ve been playing with that idea, since we’re talking about undead armies and stuff.

I imagine Alim has read about that spell back in the Circle, but he never had the opportunity to actually try it there. So after they get out and they defeat their first bunch of bandits, he goes “hey, you know what, I’m gonna try something”.

At first it’s a total failure, but he keeps practising. By the time of Broken Circle, he gets pretty alright at it. But then there’s just so much dead both in Broken Circle and later in Redcliffe that he can’t bring himself to actually use the spell for a long while.

So basically up until Broken Circle, Alim keeps summoning the corpses of enemies and freaking out Alistair, but after the Circle and Redcliffe he just... stops. For a while, at least.

--This headcanon also lead me to thinking about the other spells, and I’m kind of confused. Like, Alim’s other favourite spell is walking bomb, which is the first spell in its own line, so not that hard. But I can’t really see that actually being taught in the Circle?? Who would he practise on? Why would they teach something like that to the apprentices? Like, just... what’s the reasoning behind teaching these apprentices who most likely won’t leave the tower for a while/ever spells that can potentially kill people?

[learnfromlittlethings]

Alim doesn’t know but he’s lucky he doesn’t stop talking, because Tamaris’ question would surely catch him off guard, and the reply likely wouldn’t be more than a nervous laugh. “Maybe you have a point. What makes him not your type though? Too much willingless to save this pile of dirt?” Their eyes meet for a few seconds longer than necessary. If this was a joke, Alim would fake being offended and say he’d look good with everything-- but he only smiles instead. “Yeah. You’re probably right.”

Loghain and the Blight are the last things he wants to discuss right now, which is a shame because those are the things they should be discussing the most. He doesn’t even try to hide his frown. “Of course he doesn’t. Not even us knew about all this that comes with being a Grey Warden. We have Duncan to thank for that, I suppose.” He glances at Alistair, but it’s hard to tell why. A quiet apology for mentioning Duncan, or an accusation because Alistair didn’t tell them either? He turns back to Tamaris.

“How lucky we are you don’t have an undead army, then.” He thinks about Tamaris’ suggestion carefully. “Is there anything stopping us? You mean, like an army of undead? --We could go now, technically. But I’m not sure marching in through the front door is a great idea, especially with such a small team. Now, if we could somehow sneak in... But we’d need the bann for that, or someone who actually knows the place.” He shrugs. “Or we can convince the villagers to storm the castle instead of defending the village, but I can’t see that working.”

Sulfur & Saltpeter

Words catch on the tip of Tamaris’ tongue, tangling into a single muddled syllable. How. How do you have any faith left to lose. Thankfully, Alim can’t seem to stop talking to save his life, even if what comes out of his mouth is nonsense. “Okay, first of all, no. The bann’s what, twice my age? At least? And really not my type.” Tamaris groans goodnaturedly. “And you -” the pieces of his sentence click together a second too late. Their eyes lock with Alim’s, searching for a hint of a joke - that is nowhere to be found - “you’d look terrible with a beard.” The words come out all at once, falling flat at the end. Well, it is true, if not the most inspired or eloquent response.

They’re still staring at his eyes. Tamaris forces their gaze to the table, brows furrowing involuntarily. “I don’t think Loghain believes the Grey Wardens can stop the Blight. It’s not like he has any reason to. He doesn’t know about-” -high notes of mana, the Blight’s wordless song, like calling to like twice over focus- “any of it, really. Just that there are darkspawn, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out those need to die.” 

Which doesn’t explain the undead. How is trivial. Why is…. “I don’t think destroying the village is the goal. If I wanted to slaughter a village with my undead army, I’d sic the corpses on the village directly and fast. Before rot sets in. Keeping them in a castle for two weeks is a waste of time.” Keeping them in a castle… “Is there anything actually stopping us from going up to the castle right now?”

[learnfromlittlethings]

“Good. I like to be tall. --I have endless faith in people, Tamaris. But I still feel like it’s running out.” Still, he smiles at Tamaris’s little smirk, somewhat softer than the other elf. “Not completely intolerable? From you, that is a love confession,” he teases then, the soft smile slowly turning into a grin. “I didn’t know you were into older men. Maybe I should grow a beard?” He briefly touches his own chin.

“I wouldn’t call this everything. The guy said he was hired by Loghain, right? We already knew Loghain isn’t taking the Blight seriously. He hunts the only people who can stop it, and leads the country into a civil war.” He frowns as he thinks back to the battle-- not like they saw much of it. They were up in the tower, not even close to Duncan or the king dying. He has a feeling Tamaris meant the Circle, too, but he refuses to acknowledge that. “I can understand wanting to get rid of an influential Arl, but why would Loghain want to slaughter an entire village? The undead don’t make sense.”

Sulfur & Saltpeter

Tamaris nudges Alim back, knee knocking against the other elf’s, but scoots over anyways. “You’re tall enough from here.” They let Alim read the note in silence. His reaction is utterly predictable and yet still draws a small smirk. “Everyone in this place is stupid. You can’t still be surprised by that.” They pause, and amend their statement. “Well, the bann’s not completely intolerable. And he might know something about Howe. But he’s not going to help us into that castle before we save his precious little dirt heap.”

There are too many ifs in this - if the arl is being poisoned, if the assassin can be found, if the effects of the poison haven’t progressed beyond the aid of magic, if anyone in that castle even yet lives. Building a castle on quicksand and hoping there’s rock underneath. It is a bad sign that such uncertainty is their best hope to salvage anything from this wreck of a town. “Why does everything think the middle of a Blight is the perfect time to go to pieces?”

[learnfromlittlethings]

Alim will be so incredibly done when the Sacred Ashes actually work.

[learnfromlittlethings]

“I am tall? I don’t get that a lot,” he says in an amused tone, but he obeys and sits down next to Tamaris. He nudges the other to move a little and make him space even if technically he could fit there without a problem.

He takes the note and reads it quickly, but as Zevran said it doesn’t help much, or at all. “So he claims he doesn’t know anything about the Arl’s illness, or the attacks? He was just told to watch? That doesn’t make any sense. Either he’s lying, or he’s really stupid if he took the job without any details.” He thinks back to how he found the spy and Tamaris when he stepped in. “Maybe he’s not lying,” he adds. “Then he’s just stupid.”

Arl Howe. The name doesn’t sound familiar, but the fact that he’s an Arl and he works for Loghain seems enough for now. “Do we know anything about this Arl Howe?” he asks anyway, just in case Tamaris discovered more.

He considers Tamaris’s words. “You said if he keeps getting the doses, that explains why he’s not getting better... but if he’s still alive, and we eliminate whoever is giving him the poison, he might actually recover. Still, even if he does, there’s a pretty small chance he’ll do so fast enough to help us,” he adds with a frown. “It really seems like we’re gonna be stuck with Teagan. Or in a slightly worse case, the Arl’s son, with Teagan as his advisor. --So we need to get into the castle.”

Sulfur & Saltpeter

Tamaris has to strain to meet Alim’s eyes. “Sit down. You’re making my neck hurt. You’re too tall to go looming over people like that.” They pat the vacated space on the bench next to them. “Zevran, are you done with that?”

Zevran folds the parchment up again and slides across the table. “It is hardly enlightening. No doubt on purpose. The arl would not want it to be traced back to him,” he says.

Tamaris picks up the folded note without even looking and hands it to Alim. “He’s right. Read it anyways. Got it from that guy. The one who ran out just now. He’s a spy, as it happens. Not a very good one. Can’t even keep his own cover story straight.” Tamaris rolls their eyes. “Apparently, he works for someone who works for Arl Howe who, as it just so happens, works for Teyrn Loghain himself. They sent Berwick - that spy - here right before Arl Eamon came down with his mysterious illness. And don’t tell me that’s a coincidence,” they add pointedly. ”Because it’s not. Loghain hired an assassin once to eliminate his rivals. It’s hardly above him to do so again. The right poison would look a lot like an old man getting sick, and if he keeps getting dosed, that would explain why he wasn’t getting better either.”

The beginnings of a headache are building up all over again. Tamaris massages the side of their forehead with both hands, as if they could just reach in and reorganize their thoughts with their hands. It might be simpler. “If nothing else, if we can find the poison or the assassin in that castle, Bann Teagan might be able to use that evidence to turn some more support to our side. Not as good as a live arl, but…” it was something they had a chance to actually find.

[learnfromlittlethings]

“And you’re a whole lot shorter, too. You’re tiny in comparison, actually.”

[learnfromlittlethings]

The moment Alim steps into the tavern and notices everyone staring in one direction, he knows something is wrong. And sure enough, everyone is staring at Tamaris, talking to a stranger. He approaches with a frown on his face, and doesn’t mistake Tamaris’s smile for friendliness.

He considers interrupting, but finally just crosses her arms and watches the scene with a disapproving frown. The stranger flees the tavern, and Alim glances down at Tamaris without sitting down.

The statement catches him off guard and his frown turns into confused blinking. “So you changed your mind, then?” Part of him is glad. He knew staying in Redcliffe was the right thing, but his motivation to do so was rapidly decreasing-- but if Tamaris wants to stay too, then he’s going to be forced to do the right thing.

“That wasn’t even near an explanation. What the hell happened?”

Sulfur & Saltpeter

“Please. Charm like this is a skill.” Tamaris says. And it is. A practiced one at that. Alim’s orders sound very authoritative though, so perhaps they are not the only one putting in time on that front. Direction in this mind-numbing fog, a thousand times simpler to follow than lead, to run their mouth instead of laying down traps on a path. “Save your luck for someone who needs it. Like yourself, for instance.” They step out of reach before Alim can retaliate, halfway across the square in the span of a single breath and not slowing down in the slightest.

The tavern is smoky and warm, dark even with shutters thrown wide open. It’s not hard to find the others - half the tavern is staring openly at them. Tamaris sits at one of the long, low, tables, next to a dark-haired elf man clad in armor. His arm is splayed awkwardly across the table. A trained eye could recognize the tell-tale shimmer of a force field wound around the man’s wrist, firelight glancing around his forearm without touching. Morrigan and Zevran sit across from the pair of elves. An amused smirk plays across Morrigan’s face. Zevran is frowning slightly at a creased piece of parchment. 

Tamaris glances up, acknowledging Alim’s presence with a silent nod, then turns their full attention back to the man with an encouraging smile. Or at least their lips pull up to reveal a flash of teeth. “Is that all he gave you?” Tamaris asks. In any other context, their tone might be considered friendly.

The man flinches back, winces as the force field pulls his arm taut. “Please, I never… I just thought I was serving the King and making a bit of coin on the side. When all this started happening, I was terrified! Please, you have to believe me! Just let me go!” he begs. His eyes water.

“You’re going to go down to the square and offer your services as an archer for tonight’s battle. I expect to see you there.“ Tamaris taps their fingers against the table. The force field dissolves, leaving only the faintest indents in the table to mark where it had been. The other elf snatches his arm back, cradling it protectively in his other hand.

“All - alright. I’ll do it. Thank you for your mercy, I won’t forget it!“ He babbles the words out, then turns and all but flees from the tavern.

Only when the door slams behind the poor man does Tamaris drop the not-smile with a drawn-out sigh. “We’re staying in Redcliffe.“ It sounds like a statement of fact, no more open for debate than the sun rising in the morning.

[learnfromlittlethings]

“Your mother was an apostate? Did she escape a Circle?” It wasn’t a requirement to being an apostate, but two generations of mages growing up without ever being caught by Templars was kind of amazing. “And who taught her before that?” After growing up in the Circle, apostates always fascinated him. Not using staves or wearing robes made sense for them, but it was still so strange. “Good. Do you know which way the Crossroads are?”

“My mother taught me.” Stiles said simply. “She taught herself when she… married my dad.” Well, true. In a way. She had to teach herself because she left the Dalish clan. But Alim already knew one of his big secrets, let’s leave some of them for later. “She thought that a tiny little child with a staff would be too obvious where we lived, so there’s that.” He shrugged a little and nodded. “Crossroads. Yeah. Not a bad plan. Alright, let’s do it.” Creators, he had a feeling he’s gonna regret this.