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shannaraisles · 7 years

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Set In Darkness

Chapter: 29 Author name: ShannaraIsles Rating: M Warnings: Canon-typical threat and violence; unpopular characterisation of an NPC Summary: She’s a Modern Girl in Thedas, but it isn’t what she wanted. There’s a scary dose of reality as soon as she arrives. It isn’t her story. People get hurt here; people die here, and there’s no option to reload if you make a bad decision. So what’s stopping her from plunging head first into the Void at the drop of a hat?

For Which A Title Did Not Present Itself

"I actually have no idea if the compound will be stable in storage - the mixture could become highly volatile if left too long."

Rory nodded as Minaeve spoke. "So this is something we should be making fresh each time it needs to be applied?" she queried curiously.

"It's not ideal, I know," the elven researcher told her. "But the consensus among the Tranquil is that this may be the only way to neutralize the toxin that the greater shades secrete."

"Well, it's infinitely better than watching someone die in horrific pain," Rory mused, blotting her notes to roll them up. She enjoyed her regular meetings with Minaeve; the novice mage might be caustic, but she definitely knew her stuff. "Did the witherstalk ointment help with the chemical burns?"

"Oh, it did," Minaeve agreed, with the merest suggestion of a satisfied smile. "We added a drop of ram's blood, and that accelerated the pain-relieving aspect. Strange, but effective."

"I never would have thought to add blood," Rory admitted, fascinated by this previously unknown combination. "Another odd ingredient to keep in stock."

"Don't buy it from Seggrit," the researched warned suspiciously. "Half of what he supplied at the beginning was useless."

"No fear of that." Rory laughed. "He won't even acknowledge my presence since I slapped him."

Minaeve's lips pulled taut in a rare smile. "I'm still sorry I missed that. Was there anything else you needed?"

Rory shook her head with a smile of her own. "No, I'll let you get back to work. Thank you."

"It's what I'm here for, healer."

Tucking the scroll up her sleeve for now, Rory nodded to Josephine as she left the room, stepping into the nave of the Chantry to find Chancellor Roderick in full oration. The subject wasn't immediately clear, but the man seemed to have gathered specific people to hear him speak this time. Cullen was there, as was Leliana, both looking as though they would dearly like to shut the chancellor's mouth in a less than polite manner; Mother Giselle was also present, together with Sisters Teres and Minah. No doubt Vivienne was lurking in her alcove, listening with interest.

"I find it fascinating, chancellor," Leliana was saying, "that you chose to bring this up when both Cassandra and the Herald are away from Haven."

"I cannot predict when the evidence will be brought to me," Roderick replied in his officious way. "Nor can I stand by and do nothing when such evidence is presented."

"The Chantry does not have authority over the Inquisition," Cullen reminded him yet again. "You have no power here to accuse one of our own."

"With respect, commander, yours is not an impartial voice in this debate," Mother Giselle interjected mildly.

"Perhaps we should worry less about partiality, and instead invite the one whom you have accused to speak for herself," Leliana suggested, her pale eyes rising from the little gathering. "Healer Rory ... join us, please."

Alarm flared in Rory's mind as she automatically moved to obey the Left Hand of the Divine. Accused? What have I been accused of? She could think of any number of things that had rubbed people up the wrong way, but she was pretty sure she hadn't done anything major enough to warrant officially sanctioned Chantry hostility. Unless all of it put together somehow made her a threat.

"Chancellor Roderick, everyone should have the right to defend themselves," Leliana went on. "This is your opportunity to see if your evidence holds water."

Scowling, Roderick turned his stern gaze onto Rory. "You stand accused in the Maker's eyes of heresy, healer," he said with a flourish. "Were this a court of law, how would you plead?"

Rory stared at him, her mouth open. That certainly hadn't been on her list of things to worry about. Heresy? Seriously? That was surely scraping the bottom of the barrel. Her mouth shut with a snap. "Not applicable," she told him firmly. "Who accused me?"

"There is no need for you to know such a thing," the chancellor informed her, but Leliana ignored him.

"Mother Giselle and her lay sisters here have laid the charge against you," the spymaster said calmly.

"Did they really." Rory's unfriendly gaze turned to take in the three robed women. "So I've been accused of heresy by a revered mother who objects to my refusal to bow to her every whim; a sister who makes a habit of trying to steal confidential notes from my clinic; and another sister who almost killed someone three days ago because she decided she knew better than me how much medicine to give someone. Three people, in fact, who don't like me. And their word is considered evidence against me?"

"The word of any member of the Chantry is ..." Roderick trailed off as his brain caught up with his ears, aghast eyes snapping toward the lay sisters. "Almost killed someone?"

Giselle, too, had twisted to look at Sister Minah. "I was not aware of this."

"No one was," Rory said, her voice cold with anger. "Because we were able to correct the mistake, and the sister seemed willing to absorb the lesson it taught her. Evidently my trust was poorly placed."

"Is this true, Minah?" Giselle asked of her inferior coolly.

Sister Minah fidgeted awkwardly. "I ... made a mistake," she admitted finally. "But my report was accurate, mother!"

"Yet by omitting important detail, you render your evidence untrustworthy," Roderick glowered in annoyance. "Even I know that certain violence is required to purge a stomach. Your tale, sister, is inadmissible."

"As to the words of Sister Teres, I can confirm the healer's suspicion," Leliana added with cool confidence. "The sister has been seen several times attempting to break into the chest where the healer keeps her confidential notes on us all."

Roderick didn't need to let that sink in - he'd been treated not too long ago for a somewhat embarrassing complaint of his own. He knew Rory had notes on him in that chest. "This is your evidence, mother Giselle?" he asked sternly. "The word of a thief and a would-be killer?"

"I stand by my own testimony, chancellor," Giselle stated, her lined face set in what might almost have been anger at the way her seemingly solid accusation had crumbled around her. All credit to her, though, she kept on her course. "This woman is a heretic. She does not sing the Chant, nor does she attend services. She does not pray, even if her patients would benefit from it. She does not show deference to the Chantry, or to Andraste's holy representatives."

"The Chantry has done nothing to earn my deference," Rory heard herself snarl, flaming anger rising to replace the cold at this self-serving accusation.

"You accuse her of being a heretic, yet nothing you say points toward heresy," Cullen pointed out, his expression grim. "All I hear is the false accusation of a woman who believes herself superior."

"Your opinion of this woman cannot be trusted." Giselle frowned at the commander. "Your attachment to her could implicate you in her wrongdoing."

"And your attack is nothing but the spiteful vengeance of a woman who isn't used to not getting her own way," Cullen countered smartly.

"Enough!" Roderick glared at them both until they backed down. His frowning gaze found Rory. "Healer, we can settle this with one question ... do you believe in the Maker?"

She met his gaze in silent fury at the way ego had been allowed to put her in this situation. Her religious belief, or lack of it, was no one's business but her own. "No, chancellor, I don't," she told him fiercely. "I don't believe in the Maker, the elvhen gods, the Stone, or even Koslun."

"Then you are no heretic. There cannot be heresy without belief." He sighed, shaking his head. "There is no point in pursuing this."

"And you would trust such a person with the well-being of the people?" Giselle demanded incredulously, clearly not prepared to just let it go. "A person with no spiritual element to their being is unfit to be a healer."

"Better an atheist who knows what she's doing than a fanatic who doses weak men with four mouthfuls of undiluted poppy juice!" Rory shot back at her, unwilling to let that insult pass.

"I demand to know why you have no belief in the most Holy of Holies," Giselle persisted, looming over the healer as she took a step closer. "Why you think yourself above such a fundamental truth as the Maker's love for Andraste and us all."

Cornered and angry, something in Rory cracked. "Because unreasoning belief in a higher power killed my little brother!" she snapped in response. "He was ten years old - a cut on his leg got infected, and prayer, the only thing my parents would give him, didn't save his life. Why should I believe in a being who keeps his followers ignorant and condemns a child to a needless, painful death?"

Giselle stared at her, all her high dudgeon fled in the face of the answer she had sought. She had clearly been expecting some other reply - an evasion, perhaps, or even a selfish declaration that gods weren't real. But no ... Rory had good reason not to believe. She glared at the Revered Mother, furious with herself for the tears in her eyes, her heart rubbed raw by the memory she'd been forced to share. How dare they assume her reasons were selfish ones, just because they had a faith she lacked?

She turned to Cullen and Leliana, both of whom seemed shocked by what she'd been badgered into sharing.

"I want the Chantry out of my clinic," she told them harshly. "They can't be trusted."

"You are not in a position to make such demands," Roderick blustered, but abruptly stilled when Cullen rounded on him.

"You have abused your position, chancellor, by allowing this farce to go on for so long," the commander growled. "This has been nothing less than a sustained personal attack. I will be placing a guard on the clinic. No member of the Chantry will be allowed entry without invitation by the healers themselves. This has gone on long enough."

"Indeed," Leliana agreed coldly. "We are done here. Mother Giselle; Sisters Teres, Minah ... a word."

Steaming with unexpressed anger she had been holding onto for more than a decade, Rory turned on her heel, storming toward the doors that lead out into the village. They opened before her - thank you, Vivienne - and she continued out into Haven, her fists clenched and her expression black.

How dare they? How dare they think they were better than her, just because they believed? Her parents had believed, too - believed so much that they had watched their son die for lack of medical care and called it divine will. Her refusal to accept that had turned them against her; it was the reason, in fact, that she'd run away at fourteen. And she'd slowly come to terms with the understanding that faith was a comfort to many people, learning not to judge them badly for it. Yet these so-called priests, so certain in their faith ... She didn't even have words for them. They truly thought themselves her betters, when most of them wouldn't even raise a hand to help if someone collapsed in front of them. It was infuriating. How could they possibly put themselves on a par with Sister Carys in Frosthelm, or Mother Lisl, or Divine Justinia - all truer representatives of Andraste the Maker than those power-hungry wolves.

Evy took one look at her expression when she entered the clinic, and wisely decided not to ask what was wrong. Anger like that was not to be prodded, certainly not in front of patient. She simply kept her head down and applied herself to her duties, not even speaking up when Rory shut the door on Cullen's attempt to cajole her out of her black mood. Suffice it to say, it was not a comfortable afternoon for either healer. Yet dinnertime brought a surprise.

Rory had sent Evy to dinner, still too worked up herself to eat. Alone in the clinic with two sleeping patients, she was startled when the door opened to admit Cullen, Fabian, and four others she didn't know.

"What's going on?" she demanded, her voice hushed to avoid disturbing her patients.

"You're taking the night off, I'm training some nurses for you," Fabian told her promptly. "This is Netta, Luis, Andra, and Melcor, and by morning, you'll have a rota in place that keeps you and Evy from falling off your feet."

"Now wait just a min- "

"You missed dinner, again," Cullen told her sternly. "I will not allow that to become a habit. Now, are you walking, or am I carrying you?"

Rory frowned at him, not appreciating the way she was being steamrollered. "I'm not leaving the clinic, I have too much to -"

"Carrying it is." In one smooth motion, Cullen bent and hoisted her over his shoulder, turning to make his way out of the clinic even as she flailed.

"Put me down," Rory demanded, her banked anger flaring as they passed the tavern and she caught sight of Varric's grin. "I mean it, Cullen, put me down!"

"No." That was it, just no. No explanation of why, or even where he was taking her, though that much was easily discernible when he turned right out of Haven and joined the path into the woods.

"This is humiliating," she informed him tartly, her breathing a little constricted by the press of his shoulder into her diaphragm.

"You're not fighting to get down," he pointed out with annoying confidence.

"What's the point?" she countered, her own tone resigned. "It's a long way to fall from up here, and knowing my luck, I'd break something important. Like your neck."

"Your concern is overwhelming."

Ducking to get into the cabin, he locked the door before bending to set her on her feet, looking long into her eyes with a serious gaze. Whatever he saw there seemed to satisfy him, because he turned her about, giving her a push toward a table in front of the fire laid with a plated meal.

"Sit. Eat."

In sullen acquiescence, she did as she was told, eating the plate of roasted meat and vegetables in silence. All the while, he watched her, not saying a word himself. Part of her resented the heavy-handed coddling; part of her appreciated that he seemed to know her so well. She was quite capable of skipping several meals when her mood was this low, and it was strangely reassuring to know that Cullen clearly wasn't going to let that happen. He made sure her cup stayed full, only moving to sit beside her when she had finished every morsel and sat in steaming silence in the firelight.

"Now," he said quietly, in a tone that brooked no argument. "Talk to me."

#set in darkness #multi-chapter fic #dragon age inquisition #dragon age fanfiction #mgit #cullen rutherford/original female character #cullen rutherford/rory allen #rory allen #mother giselle #chancellor roderick #leliana #cullen rutherford #minaeve #random chantry sister #times two #unpopular characterisation of giselle #i needed someone to spark conflict #if you get aggressive with me #i will block you

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workreveal-blog · 7 years

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A Silent Killer-Gaming Addiction(Based on a online survey)

New Post has been published on https://workreveal.biz/a-silent-killer-gaming-addictionbased-on-a-online-survey/

A Silent Killer-Gaming Addiction(Based on a online survey)

Scientific and dependency professionals, charities and parents are becoming increasingly involved about the quantity of time youngsters are spending playing online video games as figures display that United Kingdom spending on titles together with League of Legends, Global of Warcraft and Grand Robbery Auto will top £3bn this 12 months. Based on an online survey 80% of the gamers are addicted to online gaming

Dr Aric Sigman, a freelance lecturer in toddler fitness, said he had heard from some medical doctor’s surgical procedures that dad and mum were asking for dozing drugs for his or her kids. “Whether you name it a dependency or not, this is a considerable and growing hassle,” he stated.

The charity Action for children says that a quarter of mother and father rank their kids’ screen time, and how to manage it, as their greatest mission – larger than the traditional troubles of homework or wholesome consuming.

“We had been surprised it came pinnacle. We hadn’t picked up that it turned into such a huge problem,” says the charity’s managing director, Carol Iddon. “With gaming, youngsters get loads of delight and great reinforcement; it can construct their confidence. However, that may make it end up addictive.”

gaming

Ben Jones (not his actual call) a gamer acknowledged by way of his online persona of Onibobo, is a part of the developing subway of life of young people, mainly male, who appear to have become addicted to internet gaming. “League of Legends is my poison. I play it until quite overdue,” he stated.

His gaming classes usually ultimate approximately nine hours and typically run properly through the night. Aged 27, he’s been a tremendous usage player for the reason that he became 15, and it has taken its toll. At university, he spent other time gaming than reading, and for the reason that leaving he has located it difficult to preserve down a process. “Once I’m gambling I realise every hour I could be doing something else with my life. However, it gives you a weird sense of fulfilment like you’re reaching something,” he said.

Jones concerns he might be addicted – his gaming in component caused the break-up of a dating this yr – But he thinks he ought to forestall if he indeed wanted to. “It’s like smoking or drinking,” he stated. “It’s a very horrific dependancy.”

The gaming enterprise is a reluctant to acknowledge any social responsibility, But manufacturers are taking advantage of developing demand. Information institution Euromonitor calculates that Uk spending on video games will top £3bn this yr, ten instances extra than families spend on traditional board games together with Monopoly or Scrabble.

“The video games are designed to hold you are playing,” said Peter Smith, a director at Broadway Resort, a dependency remedy centre in Weston-terrific-Mare.

Broadway has been helping people with drug and alcohol-related troubles in view that 1974, and for the past three years has opened its doors to human beings struggling with gaming dependency. Smith says that parents have few locations to turn to if they’re worried about their youngsters’ gaming. There may be no telephone helpline, and GPs and faculties, while increasingly more aware of the hassle, have restricted understanding in managing it.

“In case you’re a determine with a 15-12 months-old who’s gambling endlessly, staying up late, now not consuming properly and then lacking faculty due to it, where could you cross for help? There isn’t anywhere,” he said.

Most experts agree that the escapism and socialisation aspects of online gaming are a huge a part of the appeal. In League of Legends, for example, There may be a clan system whereby gamers can invite others directly to their listing of pals, and then play as a collection in opposition to different groups.

game

However, it is not always a pleasant environment. “If you’re playing and make a mistake, you may have four human beings to your very own group screaming at you, wishing you had most cancers or your parents were useless,” stated Jones. “people take it so seriously, they lose touch.”

Youngsters were dropping contact with the truth is the most important issue for parents, possibly. But gaming dependency – in contrast to gambling dependency, for example – is yet to be recognised as a formal diagnosis, and There may be restrained investment for research.

“We’re under-aware about it, and we’re therefore minimising what the capacity issues are,” said Smith.

While pressed, Jones said he felt awful for his mother and father, who were worried about the amount of time he spent in his room on-line. “you may lose a variety of coins, not to mention time,” he stated. “And it’s now not sincerely a transferable talent. It’s a bizarre International to be in.”

South Korean police have arrested a pair for ravenous their 3-month-old daughter to death while they committed hours to playing a PC recreation that involved raising a virtual character of a young lady.

The forty one-yr-vintage guy and a 25-year-old woman, who met via a talk internet site, reportedly left their infant unattended while they went to net cafes. They only now and again dropped using to feed her powdered milk.

“I’m sorry for what I did and wish that my daughter does now not suffer any greater in heaven,” the husband is quoted as saying on the AsiaOne internet site.

In line with the Yonhap news business enterprise, South Korean police stated the couple had grown to be enthusiastic about raising a digital girl known as Anima within the traditional role-playing recreation Prius online. The sport, just like 2nd life, permits players to create any other life for themselves in a virtual International, consisting of getting a task, interacting with different users and earning a new avatar to nurture once they reach a certain level.

“The couple seemed to have lost their will to live ordinary lifestyles due to the fact they didn’t have jobs and gave beginning to a premature infant,” Chung Jin-Received, a police officer, advised Yonhap. “They indulged themselves in the video game of raising a digital man or woman if you want to get away from the truth, which caused the dying of their actual toddler.”

Closing September after a 12-hour gaming session the couple came home inside the morning to find their daughter dead. The baby’s malnourished frame aroused police suspicions of forgetting that were become confirmed after an autopsy.

The couple fled to the wife’s parents’ house in Yangju, Gyeonggi Province, But have been picked up on Monday. The case has taken a back South Korea and another time highlighted obsessive behaviour related to the Internet.

A 22-12 months-antique Korean man was charged closing month with murdering his mother because she nagged him for spending too much time gambling games. After killing her, the person went to a nearby net cafe and persisted together with his recreation, stated officers. In 2005 a younger man collapsed in a web cafe in the city of Taegu after gambling The sports StarCraft nearly continuously for fifty hours. He went into cardiac arrest and died at a nearby health facility.

Lee Joung-sun, an MP from the ruling Grand Countrywide birthday celebration, last month submitted an invoice limiting the hours provided to online game enthusiasts. Numerous payments are pending in the Countrywide assembly suggesting regulations on teens’ use of net cafes and video games.

Studies posted final month within the United Kingdom confirmed proof of a hyperlink between excessive net utilisation and melancholy. Leeds University researchers, writing in the Psychopathology journal, stated a small percentage of net customers were classed as internet addicts and that people on this institution have been much more likely to be depressed than non-addicted users.

Is the sector of on-line gaming racist? Thursday was the UN’s Worldwide Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination or, If you decide upon, Don’t Be Racist Day. But for many black game enthusiasts, There is not going to have been plenty respite.

According to a examine inside the contemporary issue of the new Assessment of Hypermedia and Multimedia, Microsoft’s online gaming platform Xbox stay has grown to be a new domestic for “the overt racism that used to permeate our society”. The study observed a group of African American gamers whose voices and use of language diagnosed them as black to other players. It discovered they suffered racial abuse “on an everyday foundation”.

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That is not likely to be news to Maximum on-line game enthusiasts. Many, regardless of their very own ethnic backgrounds, will have encountered it themselves. I realise I have. In a game of FIFA thirteen final night time, my opponent got in touch to let me know I would be scoring “JEW Dreams”. I am, as it takes place, of Jewish descent, But I doubt it becomes apparent from the manner I made some little men kick a digital ball right into an internet. (They failed to, for instance, whip out a bit dreidel as a party, or line up around a taller participant inside the shape of a menorah.)

The study blames the racist abuse suffered daily using many game enthusiasts on the white male hegemony of the gaming enterprise. It argues that black game fans, in addition to gay, lady or prior game enthusiasts, are visible as “deviant” because of games – and the white, male-ruled elite who make them – perpetuate a delusion of white male uniformity.

That appears unfair. Most important video games including Mass Effect three and Dragon Age II have enabled gamers to select black or woman avatars and pursue gay relationships, or even the great deal-maligned Grand Theft Vehicle series has had, at one time or every other, an African American protagonist and Important gay characters.

Most culpable, of direction, are the game enthusiasts hurling this abuse. But, because the examine notes, Most of them might not act the like manner within the actual Global and “view their behaviour as demanding – not racist”. One abusive participant, When confronted about using then-phrase, explained: “It’s only a silly word. I only say it to fuck with people.”

It is too simplistic to put the price of enabling racist language at the door of Microsoft’s Xbox stay, Ps’s PSN and other video games structures. It’s miles the people sending messages, not the medium, which is at fault. Or, placed some other manner: Do not hate The game, hate – and censor and ban – the participant.

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