Room 301, Monday Afternoon

[seveninchmotto]

Isabelle was having trouble focusing.

She didn't even have anything in particular that needed her undivided attention, so it shouldn't have been a problem. But it was annoying. She didn't like moods like this. What was the point of not being able to get lost in doing anything? Ugh. And she'd already been down at the gym training, too. And both her closets were as organized as they were going to get. And she didn't feel like shopping.

So, this was how you ended up pacing around the room like a caged animal. It was not a good look on her.

Maybe she needed to go for a run or something.

[ooc: Open post, open door!]

Comments

[not_every_mage]

"A ... bent pin?"

Anders had no idea what that had to do with a phone. But he also hadn't known getting new cables was an option,so the day was full of new things.

He smiled sheepishly. "Thank you for being patient with me."

[seveninchmotto]

Isabelle shrugged. "You caught me at a good time." When she was desperate for reasons to focus on something. Yes, her motivation for patience was questionable, but it still worked. "Anyway, straightening it should fix things."

[not_every_mage]

"I'll try it," Anders told her, reaching to reclaim the phone. There were only so many things on it that could conceivably be called a pin: he suspected he could figure out which one she meant. "What were you doing before I decided to bother you, anyhow?"

[seveninchmotto]

"Nothing," Isabelle said. Sadly, that was not a secretive answer but rather a pretty apt description of what she felt like she'd been doing. She wrinkled her nose as she returned the phone and the cable to him. "Nothing worth mentioning, anyway."

[not_every_mage]

"It's that kind of day," Anders remarked, wrinkling his nose back at her. "Too gray and cold to want to get up to much."

[seveninchmotto]

"It's not that." Although that was definitely a factor too. "I'm just bored."

And/or restless. Actually, mostly that other thing.

[not_every_mage]

"I don't have too much to do either." Which was probably part of why the phone thing had been so important -- it was at least something to focus on. "Class is over and that was just a movie day anyhow."

[seveninchmotto]

"I'm not sure I understand the obsession with movies, anyway," Isabelle shared, shrugging her shoulders. "They're fun to watch sometimes, sure, but for class? Why don't they just let us leave instead?"

[not_every_mage]

"Maybe they like knowing where we are for an hour," Anders said acidly. "Reno wasn't as bad about it as some of them, anyhow. He let us put together first aid kits while we watched or go spar instead."

[seveninchmotto]

"I don't understand how everyone didn't pick sparring." A beat. "Well, yes I do."

Because everyone wasn't like her. She was aware of that, yes.

"But I still think people who didn't pick that picked wrong."

[not_every_mage]

"Then I picked wrong," Anders shrugged, not sounding as though he especially cared. "But I've never been much for practice fighting. You are?"

He liked real fighting. Real fighting, he was doing something. Sparring was just a lot of concentrating on fiddly things so nobody got singed. (He could have sparred to learn to use a sword or dagger - some mages did -- but there were many, many things Anders could do but didn't want to.)

[seveninchmotto]

Isabelle shrugged again. "It's a wonderful way to work on not getting killed when fighting for real," she replied lightly.

[not_every_mage]

"I prefer crouching behind things and drinking a lot of potions for that," Anders said amiably, scratching at the back of his neck. "Though it's possible I should come up with a better long-term survival strategy."

[seveninchmotto]

"Crouching works for a while," she shared with a pondering look away. "Potions I wouldn't trust, but that has reasons behind it." A lot to do with a certain kind of mistrust of magic. "I believe more in brute strength."

[not_every_mage]

"You sound like a warrior," Anders informed her. "And what's wrong with potions? Other than that you can spend half your bloody life putting the things together if you don't buy them."

[seveninchmotto]

"They're not for me," she said, putting it simply. "I mean, if I'm heavily injured and one can heal me quick and keep me from dying, sure. Other than that, I prefer to leave them to warlocks."

[not_every_mage]

"Well, I am a mage, but I don't like the word warlock," Anders said, crinkling his nose. "It sounds like someone with long nails, a beard, and a malevolent cackle. You cant be a warlock without a really good cackle."

[seveninchmotto]

Isabelle snorted. "You should tell that to my brother's boyfriend."

Really. Magnus would find it hilarious.

"He does have some beard scruff, though. And long nails. They usually have a glittery polish on them."

[not_every_mage]

"I think long nails are better if you make them glittery," Anders decided, tilting his head to the side. "They look less hermit-y that way."

[seveninchmotto]

"And Magnus is not a hermit." He threw much better parties than that, for one. She looked quizzical, though. "I still don't know what the difference between a warlock and a mage is."

[not_every_mage]

"Magnus is an excellent warlock name," Anders said approvingly. "I should tell him that too."

Because clearly Magnus was begging for strange people to like his name.

"Oh, and I don't know the difference either. At home we normally say mage. An enchanter's a mage who gets to boss apprentices around, and a magister's a mage who runs things in Tevinter. But warlock, witch, wizard -- I know they mean similar things but they're not words we ever use, except in bad novels."

[seveninchmotto]

"But, mage and the others, do they just mean magic user, or...?"

Because 'warlock' came with some extra qualifications.

[not_every_mage]

"More or less," Anders nodded. "Or someone with a natural ability to use magic, anyhow. Why, what's a warlock?"

[seveninchmotto]

"Well," Isabelle said, "for one thing, they're half human and half demon."

That seemed like a pretty crucial thing.

[not_every_mage]

"We'd call that an abomination," Anders said, sounding serious. "And mainly they want to kill everything."