hazmats | Glowfic Constellation

first-and-final

"There are specific treaties dictating that if there's a Blight, the Grey Warden can ask for... most anything they want and get it, really, but in particular the troops are actually provided for in the letter of the agreement. I'd heard something was going on with the Grey Wardens in Ferelden and Orlais and there might be a Blight starting up, but news from the surface has been a bit spotty, which in retrospect was a big hint... I have no idea why this elf is enormous or what that has to do with anything, are you sure you're not just exaggerating, Pell?"

Pell holds his hand out about six feet off the floor. "He was literally this tall."

"Where the fuck do you get an elf that big?"

"I don't know!"

keep_busy

"Maybe he has lifts in his shoes. Should I come along and mention the disintegrating thing in case a lot of Wardens want to march through and acquire it?"

first-and-final

"Yes, definitely," says Stalas. "Thanks, Pell."

Time to go to the palace and find out what is up with the enormous elf!

keep_busy

They can hold hands as they go! That is important.

first-and-final

It is. Things that make Annie smile are very important.

moreperfect

Wow, that elf is super huge.

keep_busy

"He doesn't have lifts in his shoes," Annie says very softly. "...Is there a thing where somebody is less ghouly than a ghoul but more ghouly than a regular person. And also lyriumy? He might be lyriumy like you but less."

first-and-final

"...That's... worth asking about," says Stalas. He approaches the enormous elf.

"Hello, Warden. I'm Stalas, this is Annie, how would you like to be able to disintegrate darkspawn at a touch?"

moreperfect

"Tev. Pleased to meet you," he says with a cordial nod. "I would love to be able to disintegrate darkspawn at a touch. What's the catch? And what was that about ghouls?"

keep_busy

"Anybody with the ability feels really warm all the time and will be more comfortable with a frost amulet." She pulls her frost amulet out of her shirt. "...I have a lot of weird magical powers and one of them thinks that you are slightly closer to ghouls on the regular to ghoul spectrum than most people I meet, or something. The same disintegrating thing can fix that too."

moreperfect

"...If you're talking about what I think you're talking about, I don't actually want that fixed, and if your disintegrating thing will fix it, I might not want that," says Tev.

first-and-final

"Any particular reason why you might be describable as 'lyriumy'?" wonders Stalas.

moreperfect

"...That's unrelated."

keep_busy

"I'm not sure if it'll pay attention to whether you want to keep... whatever it is... or not, but it might. The disintegration applies to giant spiders too but it used to leave the edible parts behind, so it's not necessarily incapable of telling what is and is not preferable to disintegrate."

moreperfect

Tev pauses for a second, then says, "Can we maybe have this conversation somewhere that's not the public front hall of your palace?"

first-and-final

"Private back halls are available. Right this way," says Stalas.

keep_busy

Follow follow.

first-and-final

"So," says Stalas, when they have arrived at a nice eavesdropper-free place to have a conversation. "Are you going to tell us that all Grey Wardens are slightly ghoulish and that's how you can sense darkspawn?"

moreperfect

"... Yes, actually," says Tev. "How'd you guess?"

first-and-final

"I used to be slightly ghoulish and able to sense darkspawn, and now I'm not and can't. Grey Wardens can sense darkspawn, you're slightly ghoulish, it doesn't take a genius."

keep_busy

Annie giggles.

first-and-final

"I'm more interested in the lyrium thing. You're not a templar or something, are you...?"

moreperfect

"Ha. No. To be honest, I don't like to talk about it."

first-and-final

"My lyrium problem is speculated to be among the reasons why I'm so small for a dwarf; does yours by any chance have something to do with why you are so large for an elf?"

moreperfect