Stage 3

[unasked_for]

[He doesn't filter this, because he doesn't actually...know how, at least not very well. Besides, who outside his world is going to care? But he probably would, otherwise.]

Some years ago, I was injured fighting on Seheron. A group of qunari rebels took me in, tended to my wounds. They were...admirable, far beyond my limited ability to understand at the time. They taught me things I hadn't realized I was ignorant of. I owed them my life, and far more. Had I been given the chance, I might have stayed with them permanently.

...instead, I killed them all. I slaughtered my saviors on the orders of the man I hate more than any other.

There are many things I will never forgive him for, but that...that is chief among them. And neither will I forgive myself.

Comments

[notlikethemovie.livejournal.com]

That makes sense. Somehow I had a feeling something like that might've been involved.

"I'm sorry" sounds so superficial and trite in the face of something like that, hollow and unhelpful. Did you at least escape him, then? Can you even do that?

I don't think I could ever stand to be enslaved. I mean, I know some of the other wolves did it centuries ago, there wouldn't be dogs if they hadn't, but the very idea just makes me feel ill all over. I don't think I could ever stand to call someone master unless they earned it. I can't even imagine what it would be like for someone to be forced into servitude.

[unasked-for.livejournal.com]

Why would you apologize? You had nothing to do with it. [His voice is brusque, but he does mean the words kindly enough.]

And yes, I did escape. That was what sparked it, in fact. But my freedom came at a cost, one the qunari paid for me. I...wish it had been otherwise.

...other wolves? [His curiosity is evident in his voice.]

[notlikethemovie.livejournal.com]

I don't know, it feels like someone should do it. [She huffs softly, though it sounds more like a sigh.]

That's...that's awful too.

I'm a wolf. Or I was, until I got dragged here. I only look mostly human normally, and the old alphas say it's because long before we left the old woods, someone laid a curse on our ancestors. No one knows if it's true, we were never the kind to write our histories down, and the humans prefer to explain everything with science anyway.

[unasked-for.livejournal.com]

[Fenris makes a faint sound of amusement at this.] The only person who should apologize is my former master - and perhaps his apprentice, who strove to match him in inventive cruelty. And they are hardly sorry...though I intend to make them so, in due time.

[This information takes Fenris rather by surprise. She...almost sounds like a werewolf, as such things would be understood in Thedas, save for the fact that she's too clearly a rational creature and werewolves are anything but.] ...I can sympathize, I suppose. I was an elf before I came here.

[notlikethemovie.livejournal.com]

I know, but still. It's really upsetting. [She huffs quietly, thinking it over for a moment.] Good luck, then.

The others said there was a way to turn back, but I don't know if it's worth giving something up for it. I hate being like this, but I'm afraid to find out what I'd lose. My alphas would scruff me so badly if they heard me talking like this though...

You're really an elf, though? [She perks up at this, and if she still had it her tail would be wagging.] I'd never thought I'd ever talk to one, this is really exciting.

[unasked-for.livejournal.com]

The post office is not the only way to regain what's been lost. It returns over time, at the town's discretion.

Not at the moment, no. But I ought to be. [His voice takes on a hint of amusement.] But I had never thought talking to an elf would be considered exciting.

[notlikethemovie.livejournal.com]

I think I'm just going to have to hold out for it at this rate. There isn't much left for me to sacrifice at to the postman. I'd rather keep what little of me there is left.

Elves aren't exactly common where I come from. [More like mythical but she isn't going to say that right now, despite having to almost literally bite her tongue to avoid it.]

[unasked-for.livejournal.com]

A wise choice. There is little I have heard they confiscate that would be considered an even exchange.

Aren't they? Some would consider that a blessing.

[notlikethemovie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it makes me a bit nervous.

Well, where I'm from, they're a bit of a myth. Legend, really, though some only consider them to be the stuff of stories. I know more than a few people who would probably be ridiculously excited if elves were real. [She huffs softly, embarrassed and faintly amused at the same time.]

[unasked-for.livejournal.com]

...is that so. [There's a faint thread of amusement in his own voice at this.] There is little worth excitement about the elves as we are now, I'm afraid. Perhaps in the old days the Dalish speak of...but now we are peasants and beggars at best, mages or slaves at worst. Hardly the stuff of legends.

[notlikethemovie.livejournal.com]

Still, it's a little exciting.

Besides, I think...that might be a better fate than being little more than a pelt on a wall. The logic sounds a bit messed up when I say it, but I don't know. There aren't many true wolves left in the world where I come from. They're hunted like they're vermin, and where they aren't there's huge fights to make them legal to hunt. It's really upsetting, but with the way things are, those of us who live among the humans aren't in much of a place to do anything about it.

Sorry, I don't know why I can't stop talking tonight, it's probably really annoying, I'm sorry.

Anyway, I guess what I want to say is I wouldn't mind hearing more about it sometime, if you ever want to talk about it. Your world sounds pretty interesting, even if it's not exactly a great place. [She pauses, the silence a little uncomfortable and awkward.] That didn't make much sense at all, did it? Ugh...