OPEN: Bloomingtide Rifter Arrival

[faderifting]

WHO: New rifters & helpful Inquisition volunteers
WHAT: Welcome to Thedas!
WHEN: Bloomingtide 7
WHERE: The Imperial Highway near Sulcher's Pass
NOTES: This log is slightly backdated, so it's safe to assume safe arrival at Skyhold and begin RPing there as soon as you're ready OOC. It is open to any characters who would have volunteered to go welcome the rifters, whose arrival sites can now be predicted, thank you Solas.

You were asleep—deeply or fitfully, for the last time or just resting your eyes for a moment—and then you were not. And wherever you were was not, anymore, replaced by nothing but the sensation of falling, tumbling into endless, bottomless nothing. If this were still a dream, you would wake before you hit the ground. You can't die in a dream, they say. In some worlds.

But there's no waking here, just a flare of green-white light and a jarring impact onto cold dirt and long grass. When your breath returns and the light's after-image fades from your eyes you will find yourself lying flat on stone, squinting up into sunlight and a shifting, blinding green tear in reality.

You are also not as you were: in the palm of your left hand there glows a narrow splinter of light the same sickly green as whatever brought you here. It aches, a bone-deep pain that gnaws even through all the distractions. Like the fact that you're being attacked. Surrounding you and the rift through which you arrived are five massive beings made of fire and molten, veiny flesh, rearing back to throw flames at anything that breathes. But mind your step, getting out of their way: the stone beneath you is the ruin of the Imperial Highway, elevated high enough that dropping off either side or the crumbled gap ahead will not be much more survivable than the fire.

Luckily, you are not on your own. Around you others are rising from the ground, equally confused, with the same green lights flaring from their hands. And help is already here—prepared, this time, unsurprised by your appearance, with armor and a few extra weapons to hand off if you've come empty-handed.

Comments

ruby lucas | ota

[eviscerates]

Ruby's getting to be an old hand (of sorts) when it comes to this rift closing business. More importantly, this is helping people, and maybe maybe there is a chance that heading out this way will give her some clue to finding Emma.

She didn't bother bringing her cloak along to the battle at the rift itself, ready in case she should need to let the Wolf out, and she runs in leathers rather than flowing skirts, now, arrows at her back and element grenades in hand.

( a. FIGHT FIGHT FIGHT )

See Ruby. See Ruby hurling spike traps and element grenades to the demons' feet before drawing back her bowstring taught. "Heads up!"


( b. FLYING OBJECTS - limited to one or two, please! )

And then, in the midst of running to someone's aid, a giant poster in an ornate golden-wooden frame flies out of the rift and smacks Ruby in the head. She might need help. Also please grab her poster, she'll want that later.


( c. after the fight. )

She is sitting, a poster of Ziggy Stardust leaning nearby, and massaging her neck because holy shit, ow. "Thanks a lot, Bowie."

B. FLYING OBJECTS

[aintwejust]

"RED!" Ruby, red, creepy wolf lady- look a name's a name and it's downright concerning when a giant whatever the shit it is flies out of the rift and hits someone in the face. Malcolm snaps a quick order to Jayne to buy them a little space and time before sprinting over, skidding to a stop next to her.

"Sure hope nothing's broke cuz I ain't a healer-"

[eviscerates]

On the plus side, it was the side that clipped her and not a corner. On the downside? Still got hit in the head with something very heavy.

Groaning, she pushes herself up and glances at Mal - there's a little gash above her brow and its bleeding something fierce, bruising fast, but she somehow manages a smile.

"Nothing important, I don't think. Anyone else hurt?"

[aintwejust]

"Not yet but the day's still young." Headwounds, ugh. He knows enough to not be too worried if she's still moving and talking, but not enough to do more than dig a clean kerchief from his pocket and press it to the cut. "You do gotta shoot to be first though, yeah? Always gotta be special."

[eviscerates]

Hissing a sharp intake of breath with the press of the handkerchief, Ruby grits her teeth before managing a smile. "Well, you know. Gotta make sure I get all the gentlemen tripping over me somehow, right?"

A moment, and she reaches up to press her hand over the injury in place of Mal's. "Come on. We hang around here and some demons might decide we look way too pretty to leave alone."

[aintwejust]

"Next time just flash a little cleavage, awright? That tends to work and involve less bleed'n." No one likes it when a pretty girl bleeds. Sad days all around, then.

"Jayne's got us covered." He says as Jayne runs yelping off to the nearest drift, burying singed fur in the snow.




"Jayne had us covered."

[eviscerates]

Ah, well. She nods very sagely (which she also regrets because her brain feels like dice being rattled around by a skilled gambler, but oh well.) "Cleavage, right. I always forget about that."

Silly her, right?

And then there goes Jayne, and she looks from Mal towards their Impending Doom. "I think maybe I should get wolfy, now."

[aintwejust]

"Right. You slip into somth'n a li'l more violent. I'll cover ya." Since Jayne is huffing and puffing in the drift. Mal will have to check him over later for scuffing or singing, but odds are in favor of him being fine.

Drama king.

[eviscerates]

"Gotta love a gentleman."

Her head is swimming, and she has to brace herself against Mal's shoulder for a second. The step forward is a stagger more than the easy bound into a run, and yet she persists before her hands fall forward and it's the Wolf that's growling as she leaps. For the time being she doesn't feel so messed up, but the Thedas change nausea and the headache is going to feel spectacular later.

Point is, there goes Ruby, and there goes Ruby hurling herself at the same demon that burned Jayne's fur.

C

[gatheringstorm]

[After the battle, Korrin's roaming around and checking on people/the area just to make sure there are no unwelcome surprises. Upon seeing Ruby, she reaches for a healing potion and gently tosses it her way, not aiming to give her another bruise.]

A sip of that ought to help.

...what in the name of Andraste is that?

[She stares at the large poster, eyebrow raised. At least isn't not the contents of someone's tent this time, but still.]

[eviscerates]

Thanks.

( She feels so bruised. She is so bruised, and her head is thudding and feels too hot on one side, and there's a dried blood in her brow where she might get a scar. From a picture frame. Most underwhelming war story ever. )

This, ( she says, popping the stopper off the potion with her thumb as she props herself up a little more. ) Is the legendary musician from my world, Ziggy Stardust. And I'm pretty sure it's the universe laughing at me.

[gatheringstorm]

[Noting the dried blood, Korrin frowns but hopefully the potion will alleviate that throbbing.]

Maybe it just thought you needed something to decorate your quarters with? Though if you want people to think you earned that head wound in epic battle, I'll back you up. [It was a demon, totally nothing embarrassing about that.]

[eviscerates]

Maybe. Or maybe it was telling me that I should stop sharing stories from my world. ( A little tilt of her head, and she elaborates: ) Merrill was pretty excited to hear about him. I think she might appreciate this more than me, especially after the extra-fun headinjury.

( Ruby grins a little, nodding as she sips her potion. )

Great. It was a really big demon.

[gatheringstorm]

On fire. Don't forget the fire part.

[She grins, then tilts her head to size up the poster.] It doesn't look too heavy. I could help haul that back, as long as I don't need my hands free.

[eviscerates]

Right, on fire. With spikes?

( This could get out of hand. )

If you could, I would be very grateful. I'll be able to carry it sometimes, but an entire journey? Yikes.

[gatheringstorm]

I'll even do it first, so you can recover a bit more from that head-thumping.

[She steps over to test that out, but is pretty certain that she's carried heavier.]

We should try to recover as much as we can from the rifts, anyway. Not an entire fucking tent's worth, but still. A lot of the items that have made it here are things never seen in this world before. That kind of uniqueness ought to be preserved.

[eviscerates]

You're going to become my favourite person, if you aren't careful.

( So very lighthearted, so very self-mocking, somehow.

And Ruby laughs, because she doesn't yet know that this jerk is going to be using so many AC points to torment her with random shit flying her way. Sucker. )

Hopefully these rare, precious items won't cause very many concussions.

[motherfucking_ghost]

"...Holy shit, is that David Bowie?" Also, holy shit, is that a hot lady in leather?

"I have never been so fucking happy to see that sparkly soul in my life." What, like David Bowie isn't gonna be remembered in 550 year? Please. "Please tell me you understand the significance of this." Just because she's a Rifter doesn't mean she's from any kind of world or time he knows of. "Because the last Rifter I talked to who was anything close to my normal kind of world disappeared, and the next one is a magical girl with dragons and schools." And, again, still hundreds and hundreds of years off.

"...Are you okay?" Maybe shoulda started with that one, Church.

[eviscerates]

"Actually," she replies, very gravely, "this is Ziggy Stardust, who I may have accidentally painted as a hero of our world who vanquished evil space spiders."

There's a grin, and she takes another sip of the potion she's nursing. "He's pretty much the greatest person in the entire universe. I've got a little idea of the significance."

And, she huffs out a laugh. "I'm fine. My dignity is on the line, maybe, but otherwise I'm great." And headachey. And bruised.

[motherfucking_ghost]

"...Did you for real tell people we've got a crazy 80's glam superhero space invader champion? Oh my god. I can't tell if that's the dumbest thing or the greatest thing. Where did it come from?"

The significance of Bowie is not lost on someone hundreds and hundreds of years in the relative future, but honestly, it's the significance of having a reminder of a world similar enough to his to have the likeness of Ziggy Stardust exist. That's even better than Araceli's pistols or Marcel's beer and Louisiana nightlife.

"I mean. Did it seriously fall out of the sky and nail you on the head? See, this is why people wear helmets. In case of falling portraits."

[eviscerates]

"Well, no, not exactly. I was just saying that he's a minstrel who kind of saved the world through music? Kind of?" She shrugs, hopeless, but with a grin that's kind of pleased all the same. "Trying to explain David Bowie to someone without a frame of reference is a lot harder than it seems."

And that makes her laugh outright. "I missed the memo. Darn. But yes, that is exactly what happened. I went from badass to useless in about half a second."

[motherfucking_ghost]

"...I mean, I can't say you're wrong, saving the world part aside... If only I could get a badass portrait of myself to come falling out of the sky because someone described my super-heroic deeds. I'll have to keep that in mind," he says with a lopsided grin, sitting himself down beside her just to keep her company.

Look, head injuries are no joke. It's weird to have to worry about that after all his time spent in superpowered armor. (And robot bodies. Can't forget the fact that he didn't used to actually be able to get head injuries.) "You always been badass or did you have to teach yourself badassery when you got here?"

[eviscerates]

She huffs out a breath of laughter. "No way, the saving the world part is important. How boring would the world be without David Bowie, I mean-- come on." It's nice to have company, though, and company who doesn't look at her like she's talking some foreign language when she makes a pop culture reference. "Maybe you just need the Ruby Lucas touch. I'll get on it as soon as my head stops feeling like a pinata."

Lolololol head injuries are such a joke. Except no, they aren't, but at least there was no stabbing with silver. That would have been really terrible.

"I wouldn't say I've always been badass, or even that I'm especially badass, but I turned up here and was able to hold my own, so it wasn't so bad. What about you? Were you a helpless kitten before you got here?"

Ruby, stop.

[motherfucking_ghost]

"Could've been worse. You could've gotten beaned by the Goblin King. How would you have explained that one? ...Though that one might seem way more normal to them, considering, y'know, the high fantasy Dungeons and literal fucking Dragons going on here." He leans back, looking smug. "As for the Ruby Lucas touch, I think that kinda depends on what that touch entails." church no

Hey, come on, laughter's good medicine, right? Like...for head injuries. Sure. He really does miss having a helmet and a fully functional HUD. And a bullhorn option. But he's also pretty sure people wouldn't appreciate him announcing he's the voice of god, so.

"Psh, please, you're talking to a primo UNSC soldier. Fought some badass fucked up space marines." Technically true... "Fought some aliens." Also, technically, true-ish... "Saving humanity, one battle at a time." Okay now that's just stretching everything to a breaking point.

[eviscerates]

Ah, and she'd managed to go so long without being subjected to a cheesy line. She rolls her eyes, good natured, and sighs. "Six out of ten, nice delivery, but hitting on someone with a possible concussion cost you points." Lighthearted and ridiculous, the way most things she says are. "Regardless, I'm not sure sure Thedas is ready for something that... revealing>" (maybe not the right word, but she'll go with it for now,) "no matter how Dungeons and Dragons they are."

It's true, though. Was anyone ready for Bowie in that outfit? Probably not.

"And now you've lost me," Ruby admits, grinning but with a little more bemusement and fasciantion. "When I'm from, space marines or aliens or... actually, most things in space, are the things of video games and sci fi movies, sometimes with really tacky puppets. I mean, there's travel to the moon and sateillites and sending droids different places, but no aliens that I know of. Yet."

There are probably aliens somewhere, she reasons. I mean, she's Little Red Riding Hood, anything is possible.