Elissa Cousland (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ladyspitfire) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
exsiliumlogs2013-01-01 03:57 pm
ladyspitfire) wrote in exsiliumlogs2013-01-01 03:57 pm
find there's no need to hide
Date & Time: Forward-dated to January 4th or 5th.
Location: The mountains outside of Exsilium.
Characters: Elissa and Loki.
Summary: Elissa goes exploring on her own and finds someone's humble abode. Things don't go so well.
Warnings: None for now!
It became increasingly obvious as the trip continued that Elissa hadn't been exploring or walking great distances in months.
Back in Thedas and Ferelden proper, she hardly ever took the time to pay for horses on her journeys. Everywhere she went, she walked. The year she spent with her friends fighting the Blight had them roughing it in all manner of weather, hardly ever spending time in towns unless there was some great need to halt their progress. Her time in Amaranthine as Commander softened her; though there were long marches, she oftentimes had a bed to return to after some days or weeks of travel, comfort behind stone walls and food at the table. Since then, she'd wandered alone, but her arrival in Exsilium served to make her complacent again. She'd longed for a real stretch of her legs and oftentimes contemplated leaving the city...only to talk herself out of it. Not this time, though.
She did not try to use one of the Initiative's vehicles. She didn't understand them enough to make an attempt. Instead, she walked, and the steady burn in her legs after two days of almost non-stop travel was a reminder of how she had fallen out of shape. But there was freedom and familiarity in the open, traveling alone with her mabari hound, scraping off of the land and eating whatever she'd brought or what she could hunt. She reached the mountains on the third day and took her time trying to delve over the stones, mindful of the dog she traveled with. But it didn't take her long to spot the ruins of some sort of structure which she gladly made her way towards, if only to have some kind of shelter before it became too dark.
It was an old castle by the looks of it, long since abandoned and allowed to decay. The doors hardly stayed where they were on their hinges and the great hall opened up to the sky, shedding light on the dilapidated pieces of old stone and the moss that grew over the old statues. It was a beautiful sight...and also very sad. She'd grown up in a castle not unlike the one she stepped into and she was disappointed to see that it had been allowed to fall apart. But then, with the war and the world itself being so far in the future, she should not have been surprised.
With care, she closed the front doors (though she needn't have bothered, considering the state of the structure) and stepped further inside, Atticus sniffing around at whatever he could find. "Stay close, boy," she murmured, pulling down the hood of her cloak. She brushed her hair back and cast her eyes around. "Let's see if we can find one of the inner rooms so we can settle for the evening." The dog barked, pleased with this arrangement. But first thing's first: she needed some light.
Location: The mountains outside of Exsilium.
Characters: Elissa and Loki.
Summary: Elissa goes exploring on her own and finds someone's humble abode. Things don't go so well.
Warnings: None for now!
It became increasingly obvious as the trip continued that Elissa hadn't been exploring or walking great distances in months.
Back in Thedas and Ferelden proper, she hardly ever took the time to pay for horses on her journeys. Everywhere she went, she walked. The year she spent with her friends fighting the Blight had them roughing it in all manner of weather, hardly ever spending time in towns unless there was some great need to halt their progress. Her time in Amaranthine as Commander softened her; though there were long marches, she oftentimes had a bed to return to after some days or weeks of travel, comfort behind stone walls and food at the table. Since then, she'd wandered alone, but her arrival in Exsilium served to make her complacent again. She'd longed for a real stretch of her legs and oftentimes contemplated leaving the city...only to talk herself out of it. Not this time, though.
She did not try to use one of the Initiative's vehicles. She didn't understand them enough to make an attempt. Instead, she walked, and the steady burn in her legs after two days of almost non-stop travel was a reminder of how she had fallen out of shape. But there was freedom and familiarity in the open, traveling alone with her mabari hound, scraping off of the land and eating whatever she'd brought or what she could hunt. She reached the mountains on the third day and took her time trying to delve over the stones, mindful of the dog she traveled with. But it didn't take her long to spot the ruins of some sort of structure which she gladly made her way towards, if only to have some kind of shelter before it became too dark.
It was an old castle by the looks of it, long since abandoned and allowed to decay. The doors hardly stayed where they were on their hinges and the great hall opened up to the sky, shedding light on the dilapidated pieces of old stone and the moss that grew over the old statues. It was a beautiful sight...and also very sad. She'd grown up in a castle not unlike the one she stepped into and she was disappointed to see that it had been allowed to fall apart. But then, with the war and the world itself being so far in the future, she should not have been surprised.
With care, she closed the front doors (though she needn't have bothered, considering the state of the structure) and stepped further inside, Atticus sniffing around at whatever he could find. "Stay close, boy," she murmured, pulling down the hood of her cloak. She brushed her hair back and cast her eyes around. "Let's see if we can find one of the inner rooms so we can settle for the evening." The dog barked, pleased with this arrangement. But first thing's first: she needed some light.
no subject
He scooted back from the table and rose to his feet. Standing upright he had a more regal bearing, with no hint of the slouch he enjoyed when seated.
"I am attempting to know you better but you do not make it easy."
Something about this hurt him. Was Loki doomed to forever be untrusted, forever vilified? Even by those who had never met him? The wounded feeling lapsed into bitterness and he pushed it down. No, grieving for himself and his own misfortune would not do.
no subject
Elissa did not necessarily fidget in her chair, though her frown was not so hostile as before. "You have as little reason to trust me as I to trust you," she said, her voice softer this time. "We are alike, at least, in that we have been brought to this world unlawfully. It is not your fault, or mine, that we are in this situation...but I cannot afford to give information idly to strangers."
She exhaled quietly. "...I am not used to speaking of myself."
no subject
Loki started to wander the room, hands clasped behind his back, though his gaze did not leave Elissa.
"I may not trust easily, but I know also that you are of little threat to me."
For a moment his eyes flicked to the windows. Outside, the individual trees were losing themselves in the general gloom of evening.
When his eyes returned to Elissa they sparkled with mischief and something else that was not entirely unpleasant. His silver tongue wagged and he made an effort to maintain some semblance of diplomacy.
"You may stay the night. There are worse things than beasts on my mountains once darkness comes."
no subject
Her eyes widened briefly in surprise when he turned to her. She followed his gaze briefly to the window and back.
Finally, she nodded, dipping her head into a low bow. "Thank you. Your generosity is greatly appreciated. We'll be out at first light."
no subject
"Make yourself at home, mortal."
With that, he levitated into the air, folded his arms over his chest and floated backwards, vanishing into the wall. The room filled with a smell like overheated metal and the candles winked out one by one. When the last one went the dark the dining hall grew still, with no movement other than motes of dust dancing through the shafts of moonlight. The darkness that had been coiling in the shadows abated and the chamber was once again as it had been for thousands of years; cold and lifeless. There was no sign that the Trickster had ever been there.
no subject
With a sigh, she stood and drew her sword. Flames licked around the blade, casting enough light for her to find one of the torches in the corner. She lit it and pried it free for her use.
"Come on, boy. Let's find somewhere to rest." They were leaving the moment it grew lighter. This she swore. But she made her way to the other end of the room and to the door, opening it and letting her dog out first. No sense in staying there.