theunsinkablesappho

Word Count: 100        Herra Brosca / Leliana

Herra: Maker’s breath! Leli! What are you doing?
Leliana: Herra? What’s wrong?
Herra: Get out of there! Are you stuck?
Leliana: I’m just going for a little swim.
Herra: A what?
Leliana: A swim?
Herra: I don’t know what that is. Get out before you sink!
Leliana: Do I look like I’m sinking?
Herra: No, but-
Leliana: You could come in with me. The water is lovely.
Herra: I can’t.
Leliana: It’s really nice in here.
Herra: I can’t swim.
Leliana: I could teach you?
Leliana: Or not. You don’t have to.
Herra: I’ll just watch. Just in case.
Leliana: Okay.
Herra: Just- Hey! Hey! Leliana! Come back!
Herra: Don’t do that!
Leliana: I was just getting my hair wet!

Prompt - Pursue [verb]: follow (someone or something) in order to catch or attack them; (of a person or way) continue to proceed along (a path or route)

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The trees started to blend together as Petra picked her way through the slick mud. Just ahead of her were fresh wet tracks through the muck, and the deer that left them was walking poorly. One of the prints was dragging, indicating injury. With her bow ready in hand she crept as quietly as possibly through the shrubs toward the clearing ahead. It had been an hour since she stumbled upon these tracks by luck. Whatever injury the deer had, it was only slowing it down a little. Petra would find it though, and spare the animal a slow death.

Prompt - Factor [noun]: one that actively contributes to the production of a result

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There was something she was missing. Rana studied the connections she had established, but the whole of it was not adding up. There was a factor she had not found or accounted for. None of the parties in this conspiracy she was unraveling were acting the way she would have expected. Nor did they seem to be motivated by the standard reasons. Greed, jealousy, envy, power, even revenge. Those were all to be expected. But they were all shockingly absent here. A cohesive conspiracy of seemingly random people, all acting on unknown motives. Just what was happening in her city?

Hawke: Andraste’s ass!
Merrill: What?
Hawke: Why are you so cold?
Merrill: I’m not.
Hawke: You’re like ice. Move your feet.
Merrill: But you’re so warm.
Hawke: I’m not warm! You’ve just got the temperature of a icicle.
Merrill: Hawke-
Hawke: Don’t "Hawke" me. You’re freezing!
Merrill: Mythal’enaste, Hawke. You’re being a bit dramatic.
Hawke: Am not. 
Hawke: Thank you.
10 seconds later
Hawke: Ah! Merrill!
Merrill: [giggling]
Hawke: It’s not funny!
Merrill: You don’t think so?
Hawke: I’m going to go sleep with Beast.
Merrill: Oh please don’t. He smells awful.
Hawke: What? No he doesn’t!
Merrill: I love him, Hawke, but he smells dreadful.
Hawke: He smells fine.
Merrill: He smells like… halla dung.
Hawke: I can’t believe you’d say that.

Prompt - Huck [verb]: to throw or toss

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“You can’t just huck it,” she corrected gently. Adaia’s long fingers, calloused from work but soft in application, easily covered her daughter’s small hand on the thin handle of the blade. With practiced ease she guided those little fingers into the right position, the best grip. There was tension in her tiny body, but Adaia felt it slipping away as Isene relaxed against her chest. It was a precious feeling, incongruous with the brutality of teaching a child to throw knives. Of needing to teach a child to kill.

“You’ve got to be careful, thoughtful. You’ll get there with practice.”

Prompt - Vegetation [noun]: plants considered collectively, especially those found in a particular area or habitat

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The warm humid air felt nice on her skin, as did the heat of the sun’s rays soaking into her. Despite being a different planet, in a different system, almost a galaxy away, this felt almost like home. Perhaps all islands shared certain features. Even the vegetation was similar. Vibrant plants with broad leaves, thick, healthy. Pushing upward from sandy soil, clinging to steep mountain sides. Brilliant flowers, bright as a painting, flourished everywhere. That any place had survived the devastation of the Reapers was a miracle. To be a place that felt so much like home was… beyond definition.

Prompt - Insult [verb]: to make an attack on

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Kassandra smirked as the drunk man began to shout. His face reddened and swelled with outrage. The insult had hit the mark better than she could have hoped. She leaned away as he continued to scream at her, arms folded nonchalantly over her chest. Sometimes it was just too easy to bait people. Maybe she should not enjoy it, but a little good wordplay was something to be savored. He lunged toward her and she stepped aside, letting him slam into the wall. When he slumped to the ground she dragged him outside. Easiest coin she had made all week.

Prompt - Book [noun]: a set of written sheets of skin or paper or tables of wood or ivory; a set of written, printed, or blank sheets bound together between a front and back cover

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The paper was smooth beneath her fingertips, just the barest hint of texture. A whisper of subtle change as she passed over the delicately printed letters. Even without reading it, the words on the page were intimately familiar to her. She had read it a hundred times before. A favorite she had carried to Montsimmard from Ostwick as a child - a frivolous adventure tale of noble knights, dragons, and brigands. The very sort of tale she would scoff at if others mentioned. Yet the familiarity of it remained a constant comfort. Especially now, with the world tearing itself apart. Again.

Prompt - Pleasantry [noun]: a humorous remark or act; a jest

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There was always a certain tension when he moved through crowds like this. It was his job to move without notice. Not unseen, but unremarkable, unnoticed. Someone no one would remember seeing. Drell were not particularly common however. It was ingrained now, so that he fell back on the long-practiced behaviors even when he was not working. Move with the crowd, yield when challenged, a quick pleasantry. The unassuming nature of every average person just trying to get where they were going with the least trouble. They did not carry the shadows of trouble with them the way he did.

Prompt - Prayer [noun]: an address (such as a petition) to God or a god in word or thought

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It did not feel right as Leliana settled her knees on the leather-wrapped bar on the back of the pew. She was not a person who belonged in a Chantry, offering up prayers to the Maker. After the things she had done. She closed her eyes, and began to whisper what words of the Chant she could remember. There was a part of her pride that kicked back against it. Yet, it had been a Revered Mother who saved her, an agent of His will. What bolder sign could there ever be that she was called to the Maker’s Light?