fadewalk | Public Post

[directly continued from this post]

Aria stalked down the hallway of the strange place in a strange time that had a strange green wash over everything. Each step had a defining amount of purpose and authority, even in the unfamiliar atmosphere, as she searched for anyone (anything) to give her answers. She had it in her mind that she was going to thoroughly interrogate the first thing she came across. Even if said interrogation was done with her fists. Even if said thing was one of the Reapers' abominations.

Of course, as a Queen, she knew better than to jump directly to violence when the first unfortunate soul she came across was not, in fact, a Reaper abomination of any sort. So long as it showed some semblance of sentience, she didn't care, grabbing it firmly by the front of it's attire and lifting it of it's feet. Looking it dead in the eyes, her voice was demanding, but smooth.

"Where. Am. I."

[ooc|| Please! Feel free to insert your character into her clutches!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Leliana was almost surprised by the... purplish woman in front of her.

Almost.

She didn't fight back when Aria grabbed her by her tunic, keeping her expression blank.

"You're in Skyhold. More precisely, trapped here, just like everyone else."

Aria kept the human held in the air for now. Both fists, curled tightly into the front of the woman's tunic, glowed with the blue aura of charging biotic energy. Her eyes narrowed, displeased with the answer.

"I don't know if you've noticed yet, but I broke out of that useless prison cell. You're the one that's trapped, now."

"I don't think you were trapped, to begin with. I'm not your jailor, either."

Her voice was calm, icy even.

"Apparently, there is no criteria for where we're going to show up here, though I don't quite understand the magic behind this place."

Magic? Aria scoffed both at the idea, and at this woman's cold attitude. There was nothing saying she should trust a word coming out of the human's mouth. So, aloft the human stayed.

"What is this place? You called it Skyhold. Is this some human space station?"

"Space station? No. But I assure you we are free from the Reapers here." Leliana couldn't help, but smirk; the power holding her in the air was nowhere like magic. Odd.

Puple, but not a Desire Demon. Space station, therefore, related to our peculiar friends here. But an ally to them, or a foe?

"Call this an uncharted world, if you will. We probably are nowhere even close to the Milk Way, I suppose. And Magic, yes. Welcome to Thedas."

"For inhabiting an uncharted world, you sure know an awful lot," Aria growled. She finally put the woman down. Or more, she straight up dropped the human and took a step back. Get head turned to look down the passage she'd been traversing. Thedas, huh? And what the fuck happened to the Reapers. Maybe Shepard really did succeed...

"I work with information, what can I say?"

She was prepared to fall back to the floor, one knee against the ground to absorb most of the impact. That woman was powerful, perhaps too powerful for she letting her go, but unless the Nightingale could catch her without warning, there was an awful little she could do in a direct fight.

To gain her confidence also seemed unlikely, but easier to try.

"Word of advice, you should be careful walking in this place, milady. The Fade has several ways of tricking your mind, and most people I know would think of you as a demon."

Who the hell did this woman think she was, calling Aria something as pompous as 'milady'! She held her distaste behind her current scowl. At least she was being shown respect. She gave one short laugh, low and confident.

"They'd be right to call me a demon, if they're in my way," she warned, unaware of what weight demons carried to those here. She started walking again, expecting that this human would follow her. "What is 'The Fade'?"

"The Chantry says the Fade is a place made of primeval matter which the Maker used to create our world and all of their living beings. Every person, except for the dwarves, visits the Fade while dreaming and every soul pass through it after their deaths. Mages are people capable of drawing forces directly from the Fade and to use it to affect the physical world somehow. Slightly like your peculiar abilities, but with more vast effects and applications."

Leliana made a rather vague gesture, referring to the place they were.

"We are currently inside the Fade in flesh, which is not supposed to happen, not by accident. Someone or something brought us here and fellow mages have confirmed there is a powerful magic in motion here. As for demons, you certainly don't want people to think you are one, don't matter how colorful you might see it. Demons roams the Fade, preying on anything they can reach. They are powerful and deadly, no matter how you look at them, therefore, killed on sight. You seem very confident of your abilities, but no one knows what might happen if you clash against mages, so I would be careful."

(OOC: Mind if I jump in?)

Tali had taken a small, battery-powered bio scanner from the ship and had made her way towards the Great Hall and the War Room. She entertained some notion of seeing if anything in Commander Cullen's stockpile of goods and rations would actually be edible for her and Garrus. She didn't have high hopes for the notion, but being stuck on the Normandy, empty and dark as it was, was beginning to drive her insane.

Aria T'Loak was not anyone she expected to find as she rounded the corner of the hallway. Tali choked in surprise.

(ooc: by all means c: )

"I am very powerful and deadly," Aria said. Not in arrogance, just like she was stating a fact. She didn't get to say anything else, stopping dead when a Quarian came around the corner. Never mind that she recognized this particular Quarian, famous for traveling with the one and only Commander Shepard (a man too "good" for her liking). She rounded on the human woman again, not picking her up, but leaning in very close with a strong glare.

"You say we're not in the Milky Way? Want to try that again?"

Leliana lifted her chin just enough to meet the woman's glare, expression still disturbingly blank.

"We're not. A friend of hers" she gestured the masked woman dressed in purple with a tilt of her head "Told me so through the journal."

"Aria! What are you doing here?" Tali didn't recognize the red-haired human next to Aria, but she didn't look very happy to be that close to the Asari.

Tali looked back and forth between the two women, and nervously took a step forward. "Aria...she's right. We're not in the Milky Way galaxy any more. I'm not even sure we're in the same universe."

Aria's attention turned sharply to the Quarian when she heard her name. Her intense glare didn't lessen until Tali vas Normandy continued. A sour look remained, but she no longer had that air that she would kill the next person to enter their vicinity.

"Don't be absurd," she chided, but some small gut feeling was starting to believe it. New universes seemed impossible. But then again, 100--no, 10--years ago, so did the Reapers. Although...

"This is all the Reaper's doing, isn't it?" she asked, directly to the Quarian. The Human said they weren't here, but how did she know that wasn't just what they wanted everyone to think?

Leliana studied the two women carefully.

At least the second one seemed more reasonable.

"Like I said, no Reapers. Just Darkspawn, Archdemons, Demons and Spirits."

Tali shook her head. "We don't know what happened on our end. But we haven't seen any Reapers or their foot soldiers here. And they..." Tali gestured towards the red-haired human, "Haven't even heard of them, except from us."

Tali frowned behind her mask, and shook her head. "I don't know what Shepard accomplished at the end there, but for the most part, we've been safe here."