Start of a New Story

[embellisher]

Who: Varric and anybody
Where: Plaza
When: Morning
Status: Open
Style: [brackets] or prose either one

It's a beautiful morning in Vatheon. Light shimmers down into the city through the bubble. Fish swim lazily by in the sea. It's also an eventful time, the time of month when new arrivals begin to appear. Many of them will open their eyes and the first thing they will do is gaze in wonder at their new surroundings.

"ANDRASTE'S LEFT ASSCHEEK! THESE WERE NEW BOOTS!"

Others, not so much.

A rather short and stout man stands up in the Plaza, cursing as he does so. He complains about the state of his clothes and stops abruptly. Did he just notice where he was?

"BIANCA!" he cries, reaching behind him and pulling out an odd looking crossbow. Not yet, it seems. "Bianca, talk to me, baby. Are you okay?" He examines the weapon carefully and gives a sigh of relief when it seems the salt water has done no damage.

And only finally then does he realize where he is. Strange architecture, strange looking people, and water. Water everywhere. Why is the sky water? He shakes his head.

"Maker's breath, Hawke, what have you gotten me into this time?"

Yes, of course he's going to blame Hawke for this. Most of the weird situations he gets into are because of Hawke, so it seems like a safe bet.

Comments

[redboots]

Niiiice crossbow.

[The voice comes from somewhere behind the dwarf. Well, behind and a little higher, considering Marceline still thinks of walking as something to only kind of occasionally do when she remembers. Her feet are over her head, and she casually has her arms crossed in front of her as if she's just laying on the ground.]

How much damage does that bad girl do?

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[Varric turns around and WOAH THERE. It's a desire demon. But with hair. And clothes.]

A whole lot. Bianca here can shoot clean through a line of guys.

[...in his stories.]

[redboots]

[Completely fully clothed!]

Sweet. Here's to hoping you can show it off sometime here in Vat, even if it's been pretty boring so far. But that can always change.

[She twists herself upright.]

I'm Marceline, by the way. Who're you, newblood?

[embellisher]

Varric Tethras, at your service.

[...it doesn't seem to have the same impact when he's dripping sea water everywhere.]

So, newblood, huh? I don't remember deciding on needing a change of residence.

[redboots]

I'll keep you in mind if I ever need some service, then.

And hey, none of us did, but here we are. They have towels and helpful little pamphlets over there.

[She jerks a thumb in the direction of the Welcoming Center and doesn't offer to get them for him.]

So, where are you from that needs a crossbow that can go through a bunch of guys?

[pendragon]

Saber is out and about to do some good deeds for the locals, as she's not quite scheduled for her Defense Force tasks.

At first, the man who is shouting in the plaza does little to intrigue Saber's attention. That changes, however, when he starts to baby something in his arms that looks quite like..

Yes, that was a crossbow. The knight takes a few steps forward to confirm this, and then nods once to herself. Knowing little besides ruling and fighting, Saber feels naturally drawn to at least give the man some direction.

"Greetings," Saber calls as she walks over towards the man. "As you awoke, you should have found a brochure on you that explains your new situation quite well."

Saber would normally introduce herself, but she's kind of.. gauging the man, right now.

[embellisher]

Uh oh. Warrior woman coming through. At first, Varric starts to think she's a Templar (mainly due to the presence of the skirt), but he quickly dismisses the notion. First, that's not the uniform of the Templars. Second, she's far too good looking to be a Templar.

Instead though, she has this air about her that reminds him of a certain guard captain back in Kirkwall.

Anyway, she said something about a brochure. Varric remembers something like that, it's just that he was preoccupied with far more important things to open it up.

As he skims over it, the absurdity of it all reaches him. This happens so often and so regularly the people here have made a brochure about it. And they made it as cutesy as possible. Okay, okay he seems to have gotten the basic idea.

City under the ocean indeed. He just has yet to decide whether this is worse than being underground or not.

"I see...well, I'm Varric Tethras, businessman and storyteller. Say, you haven't seen a mage around, have you? Human woman. Has short black hair, pale blue eyes, and a red marking across her nose. Goes by the name of Marian Hawke."

Because he feels like complaining at Hawke right now.

[pendragon]

"Well met, Varric. I'm called Saber. ..Unfortunately, I have not seen someone who fits your description. The name does not sound familiar, either."

The knight was considerate enough to stand there and wait while Varric read over the brochure, as she was sure he'd have questions about it or perhaps.. just want to rant to someone about how ridiculous it seemed. That was much how she had felt when she first arrived.

"..It's absurd, isn't it? Arriving here. I'll answer any questions you may have."

Saber's off duty, really, and has nothing better to do with her time. She may as well be assisting someone.

[embellisher]

"Well in that case, I'll just follow the nearest trail of dead henchmen. She's probably at the other end of it."

Now that he thinks of it, that probably makes Hawke sound like a mass killer. Which...well, Varric supposes she technically is, but she wouldn't be if entire mobs of morons would. Just. Stop attacking her. You'd think after six years and her being crowned Champion of the damn city would clue people in that messing with Marian Hawke is bad for one's health.

"Anyway, since you were so kind to offer, Serah Saber, I have an important question that isn't answered in this brochure: where, exactly, do people go to get a drink around here?"

[pendragon]

Saber raises her armored hand to her chin to think.

"I have checked into the local situation for drinking establishments, and there are a few in the middle district. .."

Her words trail off as she looks at him, and then lowers her hand and shakes her head.

"I don't believe any may be of your taste, but you can find the middle district in that direction," she continues, and the knight points towards where he would need to go. "I also recommend finding somewhere to stay, as we had water damage in the city not too long ago. Many people are arriving, so choices are dwindling down."

[aprettyred]

"A fish bowl under the sea. It was cracked, but now its better."

This voice belongs to a small girl, who is sitting on the steps to a nice looking place with a round sign proclaiming it Bar HOMRA. So small may be relative, but she definitely isn't taller than Mr Newcomer.

"Who is 'Andraste'?"

[embellisher]

Oh. Oh. There was a kid. Varric feels kind of bad for using such language when there's a kid around. Because she asked who Andraste is, he's going to have to assume that this "fish bowl under the sea," as she puts it, doesn't follow the Chantry.

"A woman who had two husbands and did a lot of stuff. Don't ask what, I don't remember the details."

Dwarves don't really care for the Chant, but that doesn't stop him from invoking Andraste's name as the situation sees fit.

[aprettyred]

".. Its okay to have more than one husband? Or was it not at the same time."

Or does that count as asking for details. Anna isn't quite sure.

[embellisher]

"She was kind of a special case, so I think it was okay just for her."

He's pretty sure that the Chantry doesn't approve of regular mortals having two spouses. And in most cases, those spouses themselves probably wouldn't approve either.

[aprettyred]

"Oh."

That does make a great deal of sense. Important people tend to be able to get away with things, and if she did a bunch of things, she might be important. So Anna nods her understanding.

[dotthedisconnect]

[Tech barely catches a periphery glance of the scene--startled newcomers could well be the state currency, after all--but then the strange weapon steals his attention. He wastes no time in imposing himself.]

Fascinating. It appears to be a sort of archaic projectile weapon, but the shaft is far larger than anything that would be required for basic operation, suggesting a deeper mechanism. It's not electric, is it?

[Or steam. He has heard interesting things about these anachronistic steam technologies.]

[embellisher]

[UHHHHHHH. There's some kind of two legged dog talking to him. That's...something. But more importantly...did that talking dog just call Bianca archaic!?]

Hey! I'll have you know that Bianca is the absolute pinnacle of crossbow design. She's a modern marvel.

[And he pats her for emphasis.]

[dotthedisconnect]

[Barely missing a beat, Tech gets a look over the weapon from more angles.]

Yes well I think you'll find that terms such as "modern" have a very qualified relevance here.

[Unless you come from his dimension, of course.]

[embellisher]

Oh really?

[He pauses and thinks about it.]

You know what, I completely believe that.

[dotthedisconnect]

Good. Everyone does, eventually. But some try to hang on against it considerably more than others.

[champ_coordinator]

Wallace could not help but overhear the man's loud voice and his apparent distaste of Vatheon's welcome. A wet welcome. He noticed the man was quite a lot shorter than himself. He would greet him none the less.

"Everyone gets wet the first time they visit Vatheon. You will dry off soon though, do not worry." He tried to offer the short man an encouraging smile. Wallace didn't mind getting wet, the first time he was brought into Vatheon.

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"It's not me I'm worried about," Varric grumbles. He hates the water, but he'll definitely survive this. "It's my clothes. And Bianca. Especially Bianca."

Will salt water damage her mechanisms? The wood? Oh, he can't bear to think about what could happen to his lovely Bianca!

[champ_coordinator]

"Bianca? Who is that?" He wasn't sure what the short man meant, as he looked him over. Wallace's eyes were drawn to the cross bow the man held in his arms. "What sort of weapon is that?"

[embellisher]

Oh boy, he asked.

"This here is Bianca." Varric gives the crossbow an affectionate pat. "She's the only repeating crossbow in Thedas, made of carved wood stock and brass embellishments."

[champ_coordinator]

"Bianca? I see. Do you always give names to your weapons?" Wallace thought it an odd custom but did not want to insult the man. He seemed proud of his crossbow. "Thedas? Is that where you are from?"