RP: Varric / Open to any near the Normandy

[cole_fadewalk]

Cole had never seen the courtyard so empty before. Even when Solas had lead the Inquisition through the gates for the very first time, Skyhold had already been thick with history. This was unlike any other part of the Fade he had ever been in.

As he descended Skyhold's steps, he realized that the castle wasn't as empty as it had been when he'd arrived. There were others here, now, coming in one by one, hurting and afraid.

Maybe Varric would know why. Varric knew about stories.

Comments

[varricmod]

Varric had (briefly) parted ways with the Warden, leaving her to study the sky. He hurried down from the parapets to meet Cole in the courtyard, keeping his pace clipped. This place was highest-level creepy, and he didn't like the idea of leaving the kid roaming it all alone.

He slowed a little when he spotted Cole, however, expression breaking into a relieved smile. Okay, good. So far, Cole looked okay. "Hey kid," Varric said warmly, ambling up.

[cole_fadewalk]

This wasn't a spirit. It was Varric. His clothes were different than the last Cole had seen of him in Adamant Fortress (Bianca, brave and battle-ready, and a bolt aimed towards Warden Clarel's heart -- but he didn't have to fire, she did what was right), but whatever conclusions there were for Cole to draw from that, he didn't draw them quite yet.

"Varric!" Cole rushed across the courtyard to catch up to the dwarf. "Nothing here remembers what it was but the people. There are more now, wandering and wondering. Afraid. The Fade is made with memories that happened or didn't or might, but here there aren't any. I don't understand." He was babbling, now, and as he realized that, his mouth pressed tightly shut. The brim of his hat dipped down as he bent his head.

[varricmod]

"Yeah, it's all kind of ass over tits, isn't it?"

Well, at least that was how Varric translated the kid's rush of words. He dropped a comforting hand between sharp shoulder blades, letting the warmth and weight of it anchor Cole--or at least distract him. He was good for that, at least.

"But we found each other, and we'll remember for the rest of Skyhold until we get out of here. How's that sound?"

[cole_fadewalk]

"They're all real," Cole responded, nodding to Varric. Yes -- they'd fix things. That was why he was here; it must be.

Now that Varric was close-by instead of on the other end of a book, it was a little easier for Cole to hear what was wrong. "You wanted them back, but not like this. This isn't your fault."

[varricmod]

"Thanks, kid," Varric said with a sad, crooked little smile. He hadn't really thought it was his doing, though that flash of fear and regret had been there. Pragmatism had won out, though.

If his grief could reorient the world, it would have done so long before now.

"Is there anyone else here we should know about?"

[cole_fadewalk]

Cole nodded again. "Anger and agony, sharp, shredding pain... she did her best." And it wasn't her fault.

"Still shackled, shaken, slave to fear but freer than ever. You'll know him." Little wolf, but not his real name.

"They say it's suicide but she'll prove them wrong. Keelah se'lai." And now awake, afraid.

"Commander, Curly, cast down but not cruel. Not guilty, not guilty, she's the demon, but--" Cole shook his head, hard. "She was for him, but she's still innocent here. Unclaimed, unbound, but she doesn't understand that she's done fighting."

So many of them, haunted, hurting. How could he get to them all? "Varric, they're far afield. They need help."

[varricmod]

"Maker's nutsack. We've got a full bag of crazy, then, don't we?" He squeezed Cole's shoulder one more time before letting go. "All right, then. If there are people who need help, looks like we get to be the dashing heroes who help them. Lead the way, kiddo."

[cole_fadewalk]

Cole nodded slowly. "...garden. They're in the garden." At least some of them were. He straightened his hat. The Neria Surana who had written in his book could wait a little longer.

(( OOC: Should we make a new open thread for Normandy Field Trip Fun Times? ))

[varricmod]

"Then let's head to the garden," Varric agreed easily.


((OOC: We should check with the players first, especially since there is a lot going on over there. Or if you want to open the thread to someone else, we can put an open call up to someone who wants the resident do-gooders to help them out.))

[cole_fadewalk]

(( OOC: Figured maybe Cole and Varric could go stare at the Normandy and whoever wants to wander on outside (or investigate the spaceship in Skyhold's garden) can drop on into the thread. I dunno! This is my first time doing one of these on Dreamwidth. ))

Open to any near Normandy

[varricmod]

((OOC: Let's do it!))

They moved through the castle to the expansive grounds toward the rear, where Cullen oversaw large-scale exercises and the Skyhold groundskeeper grew fruits and vegetables to help feed the castle. Usually there were a few people sunbathing on their time off, or exercising the horses, or seeing to their work beneath the wide open sky.

Usually? There wasn't a giant metal ship.

"Maker's furry nutsack, what the void is that!" Varric demanded, stumbling to a stop, shocked.

[cole_fadewalk]

Cole, on the other hand, approached the ship slowly. One of the potted plants (Embrium, green and growing, going to save lives here) had tipped over beneath the wing; he set it right-side-up with great care.

"This is..." He stared up at the Normandy, struggling to find the right words for once. They were in his head, tangled and twisting, and he wanted to be understood. "This is a home, Varric."

[varricmod]

"A home?" He studied the strange...not-building...again. "I don't know, Cole. Sure looks like a funny one to me. It's almost like a ship, except there's no sail and the deck is all sealed tight."

[evelea_fadewalk]

(OOC: Sorry this is a bit long, most of it isn't important as an entry post except to me.)

Evelea took about three minutes to gape at the hall draped in Inquisition Heraldry, the mosaics hung on the walls (she was certain some looked familiar), and everything else before she started tugging open doors. If this was another trick, another layer of Envy's game... but everything, despite not being right, was more than Envy's construct.

And the voice was gone, the one that had entreated her, tugged her along, told her that he couldn't simply pull her out of her own head. Silent and gone. Did that mean she'd lost? Was she shunted into this bleak, empty place while Envy puppeted her body?

She swallowed as she stumbled frantic through another doorway into what looked like an office. Papers on the desk were covered in familiar, elegant script. "Josephine... how?" She ran back the way she came, throwing open doors, shouting aloud, frantic and shrill, "Envy! Show yourself, demon!"

The doors and halls looped around until she was dizzy and confused, and it took her a moment to notice she'd left the building, though not the curtain wall. She placed her hands on her knees, bending over to pant in the strange, unreal air, and looked up, going completely still at the sight of the giant metal... thing. It was larger than any ship she'd ever seen in the harbors at Ostwick.

"Maker's balls," she breathed. This didn't belong here. Everything else felt familiar, if crooked, but this... there were no words. Stunned, staring, and unblinking, she failed to notice that Varric and Cole were standing next to it.

[varricmod]

(OOC: Yay! Posting order is now Varric, Evelea, Cole!)

[cole_fadewalk]

"It is," Cole answered. "It's not empty."

He turned, blinking at Evelea from under the brim of his hat. He approached her slowly, hands held up. "You haven't lost," he told her.

[varricmod]

"Oh. Shit. Hello," Varric said, startled. He'd been so focused he hadn't noticed her arrival.

[evelea_fadewalk]

The shape of the boy was familiar, Evelea had seen it hanging from the ceiling in Envy's trap. But now he was out or was she still in. Her hand shook as she pushed her strawberry blond hair back from her face.

And Varric? He had been there at Therinfal, he and Cassandra and Iron Bull. If he was trapped here, wherever here was, would they be as well? Varric's eyes were empty of recognition, though. Like she was a stranger.

Were they both demons? Was Cole the same as the spirit who had said he only wanted to help? The mark in her hand hissed briefly and subsided as she clutched it to her chest. What would happen if she tried to use the mark here. She darted her eyes back to them warily. "I'm not sure you're right. I feel rather quite lost at the moment."

[cole_fadewalk]

"This was the Fade. I think it became somewhere else when we arrived." Cole looked down, shuffling his feet. It frustrated him, not knowing.

(( OOC: Sorry for delay! ))