RADIO FREE ELLIE: 1st Broadcast.
- WHO: Ellie and YOU.
WHAT: Ellie is bored and playing with a ham radio.
WHERE: Anywhere with a radio.
WHEN: After the TDM, for various values of 'after' when time is variable.
NOTES: It's Ellie, so casual discussions of violence are de rigueur.
[The broadcast begins a little fuzzy as Ellie messes with the dials and utters indistinctly to herself.] Can I- uh- yeah, okay. Cool. Hello? Wait, no, that's... [More fuzz and murmuring.]
[Eventually, she seems satisfied. Now, how do radio broadcasts go? She remembers the ones in Boston's military QZ go...? God, she never paid any attention in that class. Her voice comes in clear, and it's obviously a young person speaking.] Uhhhh, nine-hundred hour... fuck it, the sky's fucking broken. Callsign... Daniela Star.
[Right.]
So, like, is there anybody here that goes by William? Or Will? Not Bill. Heh, those guys are assholes...
Oh! Also, has anybody seen any frickin' trees? Like real trees, with branches and shit. I found some potted plants, but they were all plastic. What about animals and stuff? I don't mean the freaky shadows, fuck those assholes. Like actual living breathing animals.
But... y'know, speaking of the shitty shadow fuckers, does anybody know how to, like, beat them? I saw somebody do it, but they had like a full suit of armor. I tried it and my hand almost fell off. They're cold.
...Maybe that's it. Anybody seen any fucking suits of armor laying around?
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[There's an edge of something sharp under his tone. Mages, fine, that wouldn't bother him so much... but king gets at him, his closest equivalent being the Archon.
Blah blah blah, he's politically neutral, whatever... Tevinter mucking around willy nilly is still the last thing anyone needs right now.]
Did you hear anything else? A name?
[He hasn't discounted the idea that all of this is just the work of a sufficiently-powerful mage. Eliminating the possibility of blood magic would be nice.]
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[She's not terrible at reading people, y'know.]
I heard his name was Eliot. Are you gonna try to beat him up?
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[This is, like, at least 60% a joke.]
No. It's fine, probably. [He's probably fine, is what he means, since she asked. Not the Archon. Maybe just an ordinary mage halfway up his own ass, no way to tell from hearsay.] Just the first time I've heard of a mage around here, is all. Be interested to hear what he's got to say for himself.
[given all the, yknow, shady fucking magic going around]
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[Ellie......]
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[he's just keeping his options open, ok]
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[#friendship]
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Uhhhh, let's not and say we did.
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Don't worry. Got plenty enough to deal with already. Not going to start anything unless I've got a reason to.
[beat]
I'm just saying.
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Helps that I probably couldn't find him even if I wanted to.
[What with, again, all the shady fuckin magic. People seem to be one of the harder things to find, around here.]
Maybe we'll get lucky and hear from him first. [With the radio, which he's already forgotten the name of.] Wasn't joking about asking him some questions.
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What kinda questions?
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[He has questions about both sides of that equation.]
Assuming he's actually a "magic king", anyway, and not just some prat with a complex.
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[The metaphysical aspect of this mess is way above Ellie's pay grade.]
Everybody's an asshole with a complex. I think. That's what prat means, right?
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[There is so much he could say, but— even after everything, even with the whole bloody world knowing his brother's name, she hadn't known it, and there's still a part of Carver that's thirteen and afraid to give the secret away.
Keep it safe, then. Complain about coworkers!]
It's like you said. Plenty of mages are just assholes like the rest of us. They'd swear they shit gold, when in reality they couldn't hit the ass end of an ogre if it was standing right in front of them.
[colorful]
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[He's not trying to dismiss her with that, it's just... true. Does he talk about the Circle, when the Circles aren't really a thing, anymore?]
People are afraid of it, where I'm from. Magic. [beat] Well— mages, I guess.
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[He's afraid.]
You don't gotta bug him. He's probably a dick, anyway.
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Might be. Who knows, if he's a decent enough mage maybe he buggered off already. Couldn't blame him if he did.
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[She's kidding, though. Now that she really thinks about it... magic seems as frightening as it is cool.]