word association.

[pitseleh]

because i like this one ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

→ reply to top levels with a word of your choice and optionally the definition in the body of your comment. visit the random word generator if you need help!
→ other characters will reply with the first word their character associates with the one you chose.
→ continue back and forth until one of you just has to know the story behind an answer.

Comments

zevran arainai.

[tumbler]

[trevelyan_renegade]

Chains.

[tumbler]

Date!

[trevelyan_renegade]

Kiss.

[tumbler]

Hmmmm. It is so very hard to keep it to one word, you know. But, ah, I must play by the rules.

Deep.

[trevelyan_renegade]

[ Huh... that one takes him a moment. ]

... the sea?

[tumbler]

Pirates!

[trevelyan_renegade]

Pirates, huh? Should I ask?

Slavers.

[tumbler]

I was a very good friend with a pirate, once! Well, no, that is untrue. I was a very good friend with a pirate multiple times. Sometimes in succession!

And, ah, Tevinter.

[trevelyan_renegade]

I can imagine that was exciting. I grew up at the coast. Pirates were always a concern. They'd sink merchant ships or just steal the entire thing. Sometimes they would tie the surviving crew members to the ship before setting it on fire, if they didn't just sell them into slavery. Occasionally there would be survivors. They told horrible stories. My father would scare us with them when I was a child.

As for Tevinter... [ He groans. ] Relatives.

[tumbler]

Did you ever encounter such things, my dear Inquisitor?

Ah, hm. Dead, I suppose.

[trevelyan_renegade]

Personally? No. Nobles grow up with stories, not experiences. Not until the age they took me away to the Circle at least. And after that, I was busy fighting on land.

Ah. I don't know if I should say I envy you, or I'm sorry.

[tumbler]

Then whoever told you those stories were spending time with the wrong type of pirates, my friend! If you are ever in Antiva, I would be happy to, ah, show you.

I doubt you envy me, but you have even less reason to apologize, dear Inquisitor.

[trevelyan_renegade]

Really. What's the 'right' kind of pirate, then? What do they do other than rob and murder?

Frankly, I think if you met my family, you'd understand why part of me envies you.

[tumbler]

Wear very little.

Hmm, that depends. Do they sleep in soft beds and eat fancy cheeses off silver platters?

[trevelyan_renegade]

Well, I guess there were those stories, too. But they weren't intended for our ears. Of course we heard them anyway.

Oh, those are the good parts. But then there are politics. If you thought Antivan politics were brutal, you should see the matchmaking politics of a noble house in the Free Marches. I think for a time when I was about 7 years old, I was engaged to a Tevinter fifth cousin twice removed on my father's side - I hear she was supposedly only 5 years older than me - except then her maternal grandfather snubbed the Archon's second cousin's wife's brother at a dinner party, leading to the entire family to plummet from a cozy rank as the sixth more prestigious house in the region to a mere seventh or eight, whereupon a contingent of my aunt and uncles along with my parents stumbled to make new plans to spare the family the humiliation, and announced over dinner that I was now promised to a plain third cousin, ten years my senior, from a humble but steady lesser house in Nevarra, which was deemed a much less risky and scandalous choice, and we wouldn't spend the summer in Minrathous even though we only ever visited another branch of the same family there.

Of course that was all before they found out I was a mage. Naturally, that ruined a few minor chances at more influence for my parents. I can't say I was terribly sorry.

[tumbler]

Let me tell you one crucial thing about them, my friend! They are all true.

Ah, you see, you need to try Antivan politics! The Orlesian game pales in comparison. Your tale of matrimony as well! It is just as you described to me, but with more murder. By the end of that, one of your houses would be no more, and the Crows would be hunting down any stray descendants to finish up.

[trevelyan_renegade]

Honestly, I would have welcomed a little more murder rather than all this political manoeuvring. I didn't miss that in the Circle. Not that I could escape from it completely.

But enough of that. Tell me more about Antivan politics. Have you murdered many high-ranking nobles in your time?

[tumbler]

Sometimes, my friend, I feel as though Antiva was made for you.

I have been a part of some conflicts. When I was younger, a lady of great standing made some, shall we say, affluent enemies, and poor choices in bodyguards. I am to this day not sure which is the greater crime.