it's like taking a guess when the only answer is yes (closed to Jo)

[its_not_tuesday]

continued from here.

"That's very merciful of you." He dug his room key out of his pocket as they walked down the hallway, and finally reached the room number that was his. "Now remember, you said no peeking," he warned, giving her a narrow-eyed look, hands poised to unlock and open the door.

Comments

[buy-me-dinner.livejournal.com]

"A what now?" She blinked at him.

[its-not-tuesday.livejournal.com]

"A maleficar," he repeated, glancing at her and blinking at her blank expression. "Ah, an apostate?...I guess there're no mages where you come from?"

[buy-me-dinner.livejournal.com]

"Mages...oh, witches and stuff." She nodded in understanding now, tucking some hair back from her face. "Yes, I could see how they wouldn't really be popular there."

[its-not-tuesday.livejournal.com]

"Most people feel that the mages brought the Darkspawn," Alistair remarked, taking a sip of his soda. "So the Chantry keeps a close watch on them--that's sort of the Templar's job. Any mages outside of the Chantry's control are branded apostates. Maleficarum."

[buy-me-dinner.livejournal.com]

"So the Chantry is big into control and all that. Doesn't like the people who like to run around and not be controlled?" She guessed, sipping her soda.

[its-not-tuesday.livejournal.com]

"It's not like that," Alistair protested, sighing a little. "All right, you have these...demon things, in your world, right? And they possess people. So, think for a second--if these demons could only possess a very, very small part of your population, wouldn't you want to watch those people very, very closely?"

[buy-me-dinner.livejournal.com]

"Well, we would." She agreed with a nod of her head. "Then we can try and get the demons out once we've realized they have in fact possessed someone."

[its-not-tuesday.livejournal.com]

"Except that once a mage is possessed by a malevolent fade spirit, the best that we can do is kill the vessel." He didn't look at all pleased by that fact, but it was still, just...the way it was. "So, we put them through a test when they've learned a certain amount of control--if they can resist the temptation that a fade spirit offers, then they earn the right to leave the Circle tower."

He paused again. "But...we always have their phylactery. Just in case."

[buy-me-dinner.livejournal.com]

"Their phylactery?" She tilted her head to the side, watching his features closely.

[its-not-tuesday.livejournal.com]

"It's a vial of blood," he explained. "It can be used to track them if they ever go rogue."

[buy-me-dinner.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I guess that's definitely handy." She nodded her head, still studying him. "Do you still do that? Hunt mages and stuff?"

[its-not-tuesday.livejournal.com]

"No." Alistair shook his head. "I'm a Grey Warden now, and I never took any vows as a Templar. Technically, I still...could, hunt mages. Everything I learned in Templar training, I still know and can use."

[buy-me-dinner.livejournal.com]

"Right, I remember you saying something about that." She crossed her ankles as she leaned back, settling to make herself more comfortable. "Do you ever think about what you would have done if you hadn't been a Templar or a Grey Warden?"

[its-not-tuesday.livejournal.com]

"Sometimes," Alistair admitted, pursing his lips thoughtfully as he settled back as well. "Truthfully, I never really had much in the way of a choice."

[buy-me-dinner.livejournal.com]

"What else would you have liked to do?" Resting an elbow against the back of the couch, she shifted to face him.

[its-not-tuesday.livejournal.com]

"I...don't know," Alistair admitted. "I grew up in Redcliffe before the arl sent me to the Chantry. I suppose I could've been a fisherman. Or a guard at the castle if the arlessa had allowed it. Which is doubtful."

[buy-me-dinner.livejournal.com]

"Why?" She didn't really know what an arl or an arlessa was but she was assuming they were people, maybe some kind of nobility in his world or something.

[its-not-tuesday.livejournal.com]

"Well, the arlessa thought that I was, ah...the arl's bastard." He sighed a bit, shrugged. "It wasn't true, but...well, he could hardly tell her 'Oh, no, he's not mine, he's the king's!' That's the reason he sent me to the Chantry."

[buy-me-dinner.livejournal.com]

"That sucks, I'm sorry." She sighed, shaking her head at the idea that he had been shoved off just to save a couple from possibly arguing.

[its-not-tuesday.livejournal.com]

"Eh, that's life." He shrugged and smiled slightly. "Plenty of other bastards have had it much worse."

[buy-me-dinner.livejournal.com]

"That's probably true." She nodded her head before smirking at him a little. "You know, I'm not sure I could picture you as a fisherman."

[its-not-tuesday.livejournal.com]

"I would've been terrible at it," he agreed with an amused hum. "But...logically, that would've been the only real option for me in Redcliffe. It's a fishing village. People fish. That's their livelihood."

[buy-me-dinner.livejournal.com]

"Of course, I can't say anything because I'm not much of a fisher either." She offered, then nodded her head. "I wanted to be a hunter but, beyond that, there wasn't much else for me. I could have stayed at the bar."

[its-not-tuesday.livejournal.com]

"I suppose I've never really had the chance to think about what I 'wanted' to be," he admitted with a bit of a sheepish shrug and a smile. "I was sent to the Chantry young and always assumed I'd become a Templar. Then I became a Grey Warden instead. I never really thought to myself 'You know, I'd like to run an inn. Or sell pantaloons in the Denerim market place.'"

[buy-me-dinner.livejournal.com]

"So, instead, you get teleported to a strange village where you're given a bag shop to run and you're left at the mercy of wicked, wicked people." She chuckled. "Must seem kind of tame."