hlif | ooc: inbox/plot with me

[ It's actually good practice to know what it'll be feel like if a person grabs her like this. She has to know how to get out of it. And she finds that even though his grip is tight, she has a lot of loose skin that he's holding. That means she has wiggle room, and she uses that to thrash around, ripping at his shirt with claws and teeth. If this were a real fight, she'd be going for his throat, but for now, this seems to be doing what she wants. ]

[Unlike Sam who just turned into a dog on him in a puff of smoke, Asher was at least expecting this. So he's not coughing, not yet anyway, though the hens are all squawking their heads off since that looks like a dangerous sort of thing with him as he tries to pry loose her claws showing her that he isn't afraid.]

Reaver. I've had worse than a little nip.

[Had worse in bed from Orlesian girls.]

[ Asher, this is Ellana you're talking to here. She would apologize if she sneezed near you. Just because you're a Reaver doesn't mean she's going to go crazy. Besides, she'd probably end up the worst for it. How do broken bones translate when changing back? She guesses those would be broken elf bones too.

But she will at least squirm like crazy in his grasp to see how easily she can escape. That's good practice too! ]

[Ellana. Ellana please, Korrin would kill him if he hurt you and he doesn't make a habit of hurting people in friendly sparring unless it becomes unfriendly. Also, you are now a honey badger, respect to one who is to be respected etc etc.

Of course that doesn't mean he'll fight fair because if he did this to Sam then Sam would be ridiculous because Sam is, like, twelve and blushes redder than the lyrium growing out of Corypheus' face but does ticklishness translate from shapeshifter into their animal body? Only one way to find out, he's going in.]

[ Tickling is something that should definitely be explored, because Ellana has no clue either. While she understands what he's doing, the sensation doesn't make her want to scrunch up into a little ball, unable to breath from laughing so much. Maybe it's the fur blocking his ministrations. She doesn't recall being ticklish on the top of her head as an elf either.

Well, she'll stop flailing about now, ready to turn back, but not in range of those tickling fingers! She looks up at him and makes a slight huffing sound, ready to be put down on the ground. ]

[Sorry Ellana, instead of setting her down, he holds her aloft and rises to his feet too. What giddy heights, and what's that floating gently on the cold mountain air, is it the Circle of Life?

But down they go because Asher needs to kneel and cough, and flop on his back in the snow, still coughing, hands out.]

I yield, I yield. You're too powerful, you've bested me! Have mercy!

[ What in the name of Mythal...? Oh, but he's setting her down now, good. At least Ellana isn't afraid of heights. It would make turning into a sparrow extremely difficult, for starters.

Once on the ground, Ellana looks on Asher with what might look like confusion on a honey badger face. She moves away to give him some breathing room before transforming back into an elf. And now that confused look has changed to a concerned one. ]

Are you all right? Do you need a healer?

S'fine, s'fine.

[They're a bit choked those words are but he manages, rubbing a hand over his face before he clears his throat and swallows. Tastes like metal, makes him pull a face but he's all smiles, moving to muss her hair because well she's there and he can.]

Amalia'll be back soon enough, got me all excited you did. Made me miss the hold and the last tussle I had with our hold beast, that's all. Wouldn't you get all misty-eyed if a halla came bounding up to you out of the blue?

[ It's an action that takes her back to her life in the clan, and she grins, her worry melting away as she leaves her hair as he's made it. ]

I definitely would! The halla are dear to me. Like old friends. They helped me through tough times in my life.

[ Always, she would run to the halla when she was crying or was just so sad she didn't want to speak to anyone. And the halla understood and nuzzled her hand or her hair. ]

The honey badger is sort of the same but more like a friend that might punch you in the gut and steal your coin purse but they'd have your back in a fight.

[The honey badger says a lot about Asher's hold and Asher in general but he settles and rolls his shoulders, sorting out his braids.]

But they're fierce, ferocious, tough, always feel like I'm able to draw on that whenever I go back to the hold after jobs have run me ragged.

[ Ellana giggles at the description. ]

That sounds like Atisha, but how she treats everyone else; not me. She's back with the clan, and she's just a very... intense person. Often angry, or annoyed. But she loves the clan and while one minute she might shove someone's head in the dirt, the next she would defend their life if she had to.

[ After speaking, she takes a moment to let the ache pass. She rarely speaks of Atisha to people here. They're best friends, but so different and likely to drift further and further apart now that Ellana has decided not to return. ]

I can understand that. The halla bring me peace. They're so quiet and observant. The halla keepers are the ones who really understand them. It's like they can read their minds. Ours is Sulahni, and she inherited the role from her father who had the gift too. I wish I had something like that, but just being in the presence of halla is enough for me.

Amalia can get that way just with fire. She's set so many things on fire. [Let him stare into the distance for the property damage Asher has never paid for when she's lost her temper as the rest of them have stared because what can you say or do when she's laughing, having a great time, and Nasir is looking at her like he's never been more in love?] But like you say, she's always had my back in a fight.

[And healed him. Violently. Grudgingly. Asher why the fuck do you bleed so much Asher have I mentioned I hate Reavers Asher you're such a shit Asher please don't do this to me Asher Asher Asher wake up come on come on--]

Maybe they understand you though, if they're the way you say they are. Maybe they don't bring peace to everyone, it's not like you could ask them and some folk'll say whatever they think they're meant to say or that you want them to say but if the stories I've heard about them are true? Maybe there's something there and it never needed to be said.

[Ah yes, the Asher zone where sometimes he gets deep, welcome to that Ellana.]

[ Asher, don't get deep. You're scaring her.

Not really, but it is unusual. ]

You really think? Sometimes they look me in the eye, and it's like they know what I'm feeling. Maybe they do knowingly help me through my troubles. I would like that.

[A man is dying.

A man has time to get deep when he realises he's not getting better.]

Halla have been around magic for a long time, same as the mabari since the Tevinters were involved in breeding them before they said fuck you and defected to us barbarians, and they were with your people through all your struggles. Maybe that means something, or maybe it only matters what you think here. [Leaning forward, he presses a finger to her forehead and then her heart, reclining back easily with his usual grin as Bronson lumbers over to headbutt him and lick his face.]

[ Ellana beams and bites her lip to keep her face from hurting with how bright her smile is. ]

Do you know the tale of Ghilan'nain, the mother of the halla?

No, only know her name, same as the rest of the Creators.

[Ellana that is adorable, somewhere he has a cavity forming.]

Ghilan'nain was once one of the People, and especially loved by Andruil. One day, she came across a hunter who had killed a sacred animal of Andruil's, so she asked the gods to curse him. They did, and he found he could no longer kill. Since he was a hunter, he couldn't do his work, so he sought out Ghilan'nain for revenged. He blinded her and left her for dead since he couldn't kill her, and she prayed to the gods for help. Andruil changed her into the first halla, so you see, the halla are our brothers and sisters.

[Asher listens as quietly as he did when he was a boy learning the stories of his gods from his grandfather, not quite smiling but it's close. This has always made more sense than anything about the Maker. Gods that were real. That did things. That were bloodied and moved and touched the world. Andraste might have lived and died but that was different again to what Ellana's telling him now.]

Thank you, for sharing that. I've only ever passed clans on the road and I tend to let them have a wide berth just so nothing ever happens that doesn't need to happen. [Melisende's history is her own, same as Liadan's. Asher doesn't pry.] Plenty of things I know better than to believe books about.

It's a wonderful tale, but sad too. And it's sad that our gods can no longer help us that way. We still pray to them, invoke their names, and I hope they can hear us from where they are, but they're trapped; locked away from us, and they can't answer our calls.

Trust me, it's not always so good when they're watching all the time. The Maker does a lot of shunning but my gods are there, so when I dragged my feet on something a few months back about training another warrior, one of mine saw fit to punish me for that. They can't answer but there's other stuff they can't do too.

Oh, no! What did they do to you?

Let me get burned by an abomination we ended up fighting on a job, one of the worst injuries I've ever had on a job. Probably because I agreed to train someone up as a Reaver but left Skyhold before I got around to taking him through the final stage of it. Suffer a wound, you realise you've sleighted Haakon, I knew what I had to make amends for as soon as I was up and walking about. [One shoulder rises and falls in a shrug; he's made it right, the gods should be appeased.] They live in all things.

Do you mean that ordinarily, the gods would protect you from flames?

[ She's not exactly sure how that works. ]

Not from flames, but serious harm in battle? Absolutely. Same as how when I go out hunting I never come back empty-handed because I know to make the proper offerings. I've picked up a lot of wounds but that's the closest I've ever come to dying.

[Especially when he'd been up in the Frostbacks, he should've known better.]

It sounds amazing to have gods that can answer you.

[ She sounds a little in awe. ]

Though I still wish you hadn't been hurt.

ooc: inbox/plot with me

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