Accidental Offense (Alarian)

I sit with Liz at the counter of a bar in some strange corner of the world. It's interesting, blockish, simple in some ways, and messed up in a lot of others, though now that I think of it Thedas is worse. Liz takes a sip of her drink and taps me on the shoulder “Why're we here anyways?” She asks as I had given no context prior to grabbing her arm and dragging her along for the ride. “I need to talk to someone I know and Krem was busy with stuff. Leliana and Zev have a meeting and Alistair didn't wanna come.” I explain to her. She narrows her eyes, the green orbs becoming slitted, like a cat's almost. “Who do you need to meet with?” She seems suspicious. “A person named Steve. Steven Lowell, he's a friend of the person who fixed you up and made you not rusty. Also the one who gave you food so I expect you to be nice.” I explain and slightly scold at the end, Liz has a liking for bread, always has at least as long as I've known her. Her expression lightens then and she perks up. “Oh. Okay!” I finish my drink quickly and leave the payment on the counter then the two of us exit the bar and begin walking towards where we’re to find Steve, and another man of which I've heard of but never met, Landon. We find the two at the school Steve works at sitting in his office drinking coffee. Liz and I stand in the doorway and I knock slightly until Steve puts down his coffee down and ushers us in. “Hi guys.” He says and tells us to sit down, which we do. Another man with flaming red hair who I assume is Landon sits beside the desk not quite in the corner but not quite next to Steve. I offer my hand to the man “Alarian Surana. Nice to meet you.” He shakes my hand “Landon LaCoste.” I nod and sit, Liz waves “I'm Liz. I'm that one's regalia.” She points to me. Landon slowly nods and looks at Steve who mouths something and turns back to us. “So you came to talk about the situation here?” Liz looks between us “What situation?” She asks and Landon interrupts then “have you seen the hallways? There's a suicide epidemic.” I scoff and Liz elbows me. “Why'd you scoff?” Steve asks me and I sigh “To explain it simply. I have no mercy for those who commit suicide.” Landon looks at me in horror “haven't you ever lost anyone?!” He snaps and I think of the number of people I have, either who've taken their own life or had their lives taken by others. It numbers into the hundreds, if not thousands over the years. “In fact I have. Friends, Family, acquaintances, had my life taken on numerous occasions but I'll explain that another time. But to put it simply, I have no sympathy for those who kill themselves simply because you have those like Liz, and my two other regalias Liam and Emile who died while they were still quite young, they did not live a pull life. While in the eyes of a god, or in my case a Messenger, suicide is when a person is truly lost.” Steve frowns at me. “You do realize my former girlfriend killed herself by jumping off a building and I've tried to kill myself before.” Landon glares at me and I look between the two. “I've tried to kill myself too. Still, I have no sympathy or patience for it, even if it's myself.” Steve goes to say something but Landon opens his mouth first “That's terrible though. You'd just abandon those people and wouldn't do anything about it!” Steve gestures for him to calm down and I go to say something in reply but Liz grabs my arm and excuses the two of us closing the door behind her as she pushes me in the hallway.

“What the hell are you doing?!” She whispers with a slightly concerned tone. “What? I'm just explaining.” I reply with a shrug. “You can't just do that to people who've lost someone to suicide very recently!” She says while shaking me. “I get you're trying to stand up for me and Emmie and Liam but still don't do that Ali it's not nice.” I lean against the wall and cross my arms “you never had a problem with that before.” I point out and she drops her arms and frowns even more. “Because those were different circumstances. What about all the kids from here that killed themselves? Would you be sad for them? Think of their poor parents cmon.” I shrug again and look away “what about their parents? They probably drove the kid to suicide anyways. I just don't see what I'm doing wrong!” Liz sighs “I get it. I get it, you have issues with sympathy. Always have as long as I've known you.” I hang my head “I'm sorry. I screwed up.” Liz pats my head and messes up my hair. She points to the door “Now go apologize I'll explain to them after.” I nod and open the door.

“I'm sorry. Both of you, I'm sorry.” I say pursing my lips. Steves expression softens but Landon still seems a bit pissed off. “Am I forgiven or not?” Steve nods, Landon pauses but eventually agrees “Still want to know the reasoning behind it though.” Liz opens the door and comes in then “did someone say they wanted reasoning from someone other than the mentally ill eccentric teenager?” I glare at her and she picks me up and places me out in the hallway. “Stay.” She points a finger at me and I make a face. I'm not a dog you know.

(We change to Liz at this point)

I shut the door behind me, glancing back through the fogged glass to make sure Alarian is still there, which they are. Sitting in the hall with their arms crossed like a child put in timeout, which isn't far off from why I put them there in the first place. I sit in a chair in front of Steves desk and look at them both tiredly. “First of all I'm sorry for their behavior and if they offended you at all.” Steve smiles slightly and says there is nothing to apologize for, as it's not my fault. Landon seconds this then asks the reason for their behavior. “It may not seem like it but the kids been through a lot. Screwed them up in the head a bit. Or more than a bit. Though I think anyone who spent their who lives at the hands of abusive soilders and locked in an institution that is little more than a prison and then was in one of the worst battles in all of history seeing an entire army wiped out would be as equally if not more insane.” Landon's expression changes to one of sympathy, I think that resonated with him on some level, though I don't know the man well enough to gauge why. “And as for the whole no mercy for suicide that's more complex.” I begin “To put it simply, Ali is something called a messenger, they work as a connection between our God and the mortal plane. Their job is to spread the word, kick out any demons, that sort of thing, and help the common folk. That's how I know them in fact. Each member of His court has the ability to keep an unlimited number of Regalias, magical weapons so to speak. These are the spirits of the dead who are found and named, usually it's with the name from their old life on earth but not always. The spirit also has a weapon name which when called has them transform into something else. Usually it's a weapon or armor but sometimes it's simply a chair or a pen or some random object. Regalias are spirits of people who died unwillingly or horribly something like that I forget the exact wording, Suicide does not count. That's Alarians big deal with it. They think it's wrong someone would try to take their own life, and even though they've tried themselves they have no respect for it. Though the reason they won't save someone whence they deem them beyond saving is to a god, of any level or stature, there is no wrong, only right.” The two men stare at me “So they'd just leave someone to die?!” Landon gives me an expression of horror “Very likely yes if it weren't for them having someone at their side at all times. The difference that splits Ali and I is that I was mortal and thus experienced all emotions a typical person does normally. Ali on the other hand has incarnations, different forms while never being truly and fully human. Thus causing them to have issues with processing emotions as others do. Their true form is most similar to this incarnation. A small seventeen year old person with female characteristics but presents boyishly, has a distant and at times cold personality though can also be very kind whence you get to know them. Has piercing green eyes and a scar down their face. This is likely the form they'll have for the rest of time until returning to their true form, though I am not certain.” I glance out the doors window once again to see them looking around, kicking their legs back and forth. The angry expression gone from their face. I turn back to Steve and Landon. “Anyways once again I'm sorry for any offense caused by them. It was accident and hopefully won't happen again.” Landon chuckles slightly and I turn my head looking at him “what's so funny?” I ask and he waves his hand “Nothing. It's just almost like you're their babysitter.” I laugh “eh I kind of am!” He seems less angry now as does Steve. Hopefully the explanation dispelled any lasting offense. I bid the two goodbye and slip out into the hallway, picking up Ali over my shoulder and walking down the hall. “Wanna take the easy way out?” I ask them and they grumble, sign, but eventually agree, snapping their fingers and there's a flash of light and the two of us stand outside a bakery in Denerim. “Why are we here?!” I put them down and they shrug “I got hungry?” I facepalm, so continue Ali and my amusing Misadventures.

Ender I hope I did this right for their reactions. I'm working on the other crossover now.

Until next time,

Max