fandomhigh | History of Poisons, Thursday Per 2

Word had been sent around for students to meet in a Danger Shop, as well as a note taped to the classroom door (along with a handy map for the newbies), for those students who hadn't yet figured out email. Inside, the Danger Shop had been programmed to look like an elegant dining room, with enough chairs for each person to sit. On the table sat six pewter serving trays of different foods, a carafe of a deep purplish-red liquid, and a vase filled with lilies of the valley, but none of the chairs had plates in front of them. Their teacher sat at the head of the table, drinking a mug of coffee.

Hey, it was the Danger Shop. which mean it didn't count. If she wasn't supposed to be a role-model right now, her cup would likely have been filled with something a lot stronger.

"Welcome," she said, waving people in and gesturing for them to take a seat. "This is History of Poisons and I'm your teacher, Karla DiGlacia. Feel free to just call me Karla, I don't like standing on ceremony when I visit the island. I get enough of that at home. Anyway, welcome to our first class and, since it's Thursday, you probably all know what we're going to do today. You're probably all tired of introductions by now, but it's tradition." She shrugged then savored another mouthful of coffee. Oh, that was good stuff.

"Now, when it comes to history, poison has been around since our various ancestors first started poking at various fruits, vegetables, and berries they were able to gather. Not long after people discovered that eating the berries on that bush could kill you, poison has been used as a method of murder, execution, suicide, pest-control, sabotage, and even medicine, of a sort. Whether ingested, inhaled, or injected, all poisons effect the body in some harmful manner. That is, however, pretty much the only similarity among them. There are household poisons, industrial poisons, medical poisons, ...in other words, there's far more to the poisoner's art and its history than we can possibly go into in a single semester. We are going to focus mainly on plant-based poisons, both because they're the ones I am most familiar with and also the most likely to be universal, which is saying something when we're talking about all the different multiverses that touch here. It's not a guarantee, of course, but then again, nothing is."

Especially in a place like Fandom. "Since I'll be asking you all a few questions to learn more about you, it's only fair that I give you some information about me. Firstly, I'm not from this world, though I attended Fandom from my freshman year through graduation. My home is the Realm of Kaeleer, where I am the Queen of a Territory called Glacia. My people are called the Blood and we all have Craft, though most people around here call it magic. I'm what is known as a triply-aspected witch; I belong to the three different inborn castes. As I mentioned before, I'm a Queen, but that's not really relevant to this class, a Healer, which gives me a background in medicinal herbs and plants, as well as the Craft to Heal physical ailments, and a Black Widow, which is the caste of dreams, illusions, prophecy, mind-Healing and poisons." She was going to leave out the part where Black Widows naturally produced their own potent venom in a sac under their right ring finger nails. People could be so weird about that.

"But enough about me, back to the stuff that's really useful. Poisons surround us every day, moreso if you're from worlds or countries or times that are not as developed as America in 2015. It's not just the wrong unknown berry that can kill you, even foods you eat every day can be lethal if you eat them at the wrong time of year, or eat the wrong parts, or eat them when they haven't been prepared properly." She gestured to the items in front of them. "Several of these are poisonous, others are not. I'd like to go around the table and have each of you give me your name, class, and your best guess to what is the most poisonous thing on the table is. I'll tell you now, no poisons have been added, that's not something you have to worry about. These are all poisons you could stumble over in the wild. And don't worry if you can't tell apples from arsenic, just give me your best guess."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"If my beliefs did not follow me here, they would not be beliefs," Cassandra said. "Merely conveniences to be taken up and discarded as one sees fit. That would be unworthy of the Maker."

That was the most important part she had to cover first.

"Mages have power. Power is always tied with danger, especially if it is unpredictable. If I lose my head, some may die. When a mage falters and becomes possessed, cities could fall, and many innocents sacrificed for the sake of blood magic. I do not see this changing based on something as superficial as location."

"Because not every person's magic works the way yours does," Karla said firmly. "If you're so blinded by the way you think things ought to work, you will fail to comprehend how they truly do. Believe me, it was one of the hardest lessons I had to learn when I first arrived on this island. And while you may certainly keep your beliefs, they won't do you much good if you try to force them on other people. Your Maker and Andraste do not exist in my world, and so trying to impose their laws on me is, at best, a futile endeavor."

Her gaze sharpened. "Now, Miss Pentaghast, a ground rule in my classroom. You may feel free to argue with me all you like about my Craft and how I use it. But if I catch you telling any of my students that there is something wrong with them because of whatever powers they have, then we will have trouble, you and I. I will not have your anti-magic sentiments making this class uncomfortable for your fellow students, all of whom have the same right to be here as you do."

Cassandra did not seem particularly impressed by the threat - or by any of it. She had faced greater fires than one diminutive blonde mage who did not even have a staff on her and seemed to enjoy monologuing.

And the woman was making threats based on assumptions that were clearly false.

"I am not imposing any law on you," she said. "The laws of the Chantry demand I arrest you the moment you spoke of being a mage, and to take you to the first Circle of Magi I could reach, where the Templars would deal with it. I have done no such thing. I am merely stating that it is likely you and yours are putting others in danger, even if you refuse to acknowledge it."

Pffft. What kind of witch needed a staff? That was just absurd! Weren't they just oversized magic wands?

"And the fact that we have neither a Circle nor Templars on the island had nothing to do with that?" Karla asked, skeptical.

Though if Cassandra wanted to drag her off, this was really the week to do it.

Look, she really wished that people would realize that dragging off mages was technically not Cassandra's day job. Unless the Templars failed to do their day job. So at the moment she wasn't exactly jumping at the idea, especially when yes, she had nowhere to put Karla.

"No," she said. "There is a mage here from my world. I intend to return him to his Circle. I have made no such threats to anyone else."

Though she couldn't rule out that the Templars would want to send a whole army to come round everyone up when she got back and gave her report, but, well, that was a matter for later.

Edited 2015-01-08 19:48 (UTC)

Aha! An Exalted March on Fandom was possibly an even worse idea than an Exalted March on Kaeleer.

"If he doesn't want to go, it will be seen as kidnapping and you won't get very far," Karla warned. "So I would think long and hard before I did anything rash, were I you."

"He will come, if he values the safety of your island at all," Cassandra said. She set her jaw. "It is a matter of my own world, and by your own logic, it is none of your concern. I suggest you cease threatening me."

"But while you both are on this island, you are subject to this world's laws and customs. And that includes taking someone away against their will," Karla retorted, vastly unamused. "And it is not a threat. I am informing you of the consequences of your actions. Do you try to take someone off this island who does not want to go, especially if that person is somehow affiliated with the school, it will go very poorly for you. We take the safety of our students and faculty very seriously here. You may feel free to take it up with the Dean or the Principal if you wish, but then you'll see the difference between my warnings and real threats."

Actually, Karla would pay good money to see Cassandra go up to Anakin and demand the right to take someone away from the island for the crime of having powers.

"Maker preserve me," Cassandra said irritably, "You are not listening. This man is not a student, he is a fugitive, and a potential danger to the safety of your students and faculty. And I can assure you, if I do not take him, then others will come for him. I cannot guarantee the Templars would have care for his well-being as much."

Pfft, Anakin had no moral high ground where it came to arresting fugitives on Fandom.

"'This man' is right here," Anders interjected with a heavy sigh, once the out-of-body strangeness of being talked about in this way became too much to bear. "And we can fight about how dangerous I am later, but I'm not sure what I've been doing the last eight months if it's not being a student."

It seemed to him that 'fugitive' no longer applied once you quit running.

"Anyhow, I'm not the one who pointed a weapon at people my first day."

Karla had missed the memo about Anakin handing Atton over, though she would be willing to bet that he'd be less inclined to do so when the S-word wasn't being bandied about.

"Don't worry," she said, turning to include Anders in the conversation. "Fandom does not consider someone a danger unless and until we have seen irrefutable proof that they are one. What someone might do, or has the potential to do is irrelevant up to that point. And, believe me, we have had a great number of students with the potential to destroy not only the island but Baltimore along with it. Considering we're still standing here, debating this, perhaps our method of not treating innocent people like criminals has some merit."

"Or perhaps you have been lucky," Cassandra said flatly. "It would not be the first time some Templar looked the other way because this mage could not possibly be a threat, only to have to clean up the bodies later. Much the opposite. There is no shortage of mages who believe themselves strong enough to resist possession, until one day they are not - because they have become desperate, because they have become selfish and power-hungry, or because they believe they have found the only friendly demon in Thedas. No."

~~ANDERS.~~

"Your warnings have been noted," Karla told her. "Was there anything else?"

History of Poisons, Thursday Per 2

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