faderift | OPEN: Justinian Rifter Arrival

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OPEN: Justinian Rifter Arrival

WHO: New rifters & helpful Inquisition volunteers
WHAT: Welcome to Thedas!
WHEN: Justinian 7
WHERE: On the outskirts of the Exalted Plains
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. Reaching this rift, as well as returning to Skyhold, will require passing carefully through the active and ongoing battlefront for the War of the Lions. Don't get stabbed.

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. There's a massive, monstrous horned giant stomping toward you, electricity crackling over its purple-gray skin, flanked by ghostly wisps of green light that rear back to hurl bursts of pure magic in your direction.

Your options for escape are limited. To one side, a river; to another, a rock formation too tall and steep to scale. But there's cover behind you in the form of a ruined home—burnt out, missing half of its walls, but still able to resist some damage—and, on the other side of the rift, people coming to help.

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The apology has Christine turning to look at the woman, and her expression softens. She is no great fighter herself, and would be a liability if not for her skill at healing spells. Before the Circles fell, Christine had never had to defend herself like this. In those early days when the rebel mages fled the Templars across the country, she depended on others to protect her too.

"Do not be," she says, hoping to reassure the woman. "You have been through much."

That said, she turns and leaves the house, joining warriors, rogues, and other mages from the Inquisition as they work to take the pride demon down. However, they will still need a rifter to close the rift.

Cosima is scared, that's true. But she also would always rather know what she's up against, which means cautiously peering out what's left of a window at the battle. It's... impressive, and utterly foreign, and she has a moment where she wonders if vivid delusions are a previously unreported side effect of her disease. (Surely it would have turned up in at least one other patient.)

She watches, but she's also aware of her own limitations and stays put. She does spot one green floating creature (a Wraith, she assumes), but it's far off and mercifully doesn't seem to notice her. She's right where Christine left her when the battle ends.

Everything that's come out of the rift is dead, but more will be coming if it isn't sealed. And unfortunately, it looks like the rift only spit out two people this time. That means Christine is soon running back to the house, a bit breathless.

"There is a way you can help! The mark upon your hand -- it can close this rift and prevent any more demons from coming through. If it remains open, they will come through indefinitely." She beckons Cosima to come closer to her. "Please, I know it is hard to understand, but you must come back with me before more demons arrive!"

"Um, okay, I'll go out on a limb and say I'm anti-more-demons," Cosima says, coming to Christine. "What do I need to do?" The rift is more than a little unnerving, even with the battle ended.

"You need to come closer to the rift, and hold your marked hand up towards it. The shard embedded in your hand will react with it. And it... it somehow seals the rift shut." She looks nervously over her shoulder, knowing another wave will appear soon if they don't hurry.

"I know this is little to go on. But rifters say they just try to pull it closed, and it does. It bends to your will."

"I'm gonna have so many questions later," she comments, almost offhand, but she's already moving at a clip closer to the rift. While Cosima is clearly uneasy, she also seems willing to try.

"Bend it to my will. Scotty would love this so much." That's more to herself than Christine; she pitches her voice a little louder to ask, "How close is closer?" as she keeps moving.

"Ah, I think about here." Christine stops a short distance from the rift and looks at Cosima. "Now lift your hand and try to latch on to the rift. A stream of green light will connect you to it. From there, try to force it to close."

Christine can only go on what she's seen before when newly arrived rifters closed a rift. She can't know exactly what it feels like, but she can say what it looks like.

"Here goes." Cosima, as instructed, lifts her palm to face the rift. If there wasn't immediate danger of more demons, she suspects she'd feel very silly; even now, she feels like she should chant something in Latin.

Instead, she tries to focus. After a moment, light indeed seems to reach back from the rift, and as it connects, and it suddenly makes sense why no one has been able to describe the sensation very well. (The best Cosima can do is extremely frickin' weird.) She keeps her hand as steady as possible and thinks close in the rift's general direction.

She's not great at "feel your way," but she can deal with "trial and error."

"You are doing it!" Christine exclaims, relieved beyond words. "Just keep going until it disappears." She stands ready to protect her if more demons come, or perhaps black wolves, or deserters from the nearby battlefields. This region is a danger for many reasons.

Cosima holds her concentration until the rift disappears entirely and a moment longer for good measure. She drops her hand. Then she laughs, mainly in relief that whatever she did seems to have worked, before it turns into a rough-sounding cough.

She's suddenly aware of how much energy the maneuver took. A person who was perfectly well would probably be fine; Cosima is not one of those people.

"Well... there's that, then," she says, a little rough, when the cough passes.

Immediately, Christine's face shifts to concern, and she steps closer. She's only seen someone close a rift once before, and they hadn't had a coughing fit afterward.

"Are you ill?" she asks, unsure if the rift could be the cause.

She shakes her head, but then clarifies: "Yeah. I mean, I am, but I was at home too - the Rift didn't do it. I'll be fine in a sec."

Or fine in relative terms, at least.

"Just took it out of me a little."

"Of course. We will take you back to our camp and there you can find food and rest," she says gently. "Perhaps later we can speak of your illness? I am a healer, and I would like to help you if I can."

Cosima manages a shaky smile. "If you want, sure. It's pretty rare, even where I come from, but I don't mind talking about it."

She takes a deep breath, steadier now. "And... thanks. For all of that."

"Of course. I would wish for a helping hand myself, were I to stumble into another world." But she hasn't really explained everything to her yet, has she? "My name is Christine," she begins, sounding as though she has a French accent. But this is another world, and there is no France here, only Orlais.

She begins to lead the way towards the Inquisition's nearest camp. With Solas able to predict where the rifts will next form, the Inquisition can get out there to fight the demons and bring previously thrown-out-of-a-rift rifters to close them.

"You are in a place called Thedas, and more specifically, the Empire of Orlais. I am a member of the Inquisition. We are a group that wishes to restore order and stop a war that could ruin the world."

Blond French women, Cosima can't help thinking to herself, ruefully. "I'm Cosima," she says, as she follows Christine back to camp. "We had a movement called an inquisition where I'm from, long before my time, but its aims weren't quite that noble."

She looks down at her hand, flexing it a little as she thinks. It aches, though the pain is bearable. What bothers Cosima more is her complete ignorance of what it is or the context for what she's being told.

Christine has helped her, though, and it buys her some trust. For now.

"Cosima," she repeats, looking from the woman's face to her hand. "If it hurts, I can soothe it with my magic. The pain will go for a little while." She knows from the other rifters that their mark with hurt from time to time.

"How does that work?" she asks immediately, visibly interested as she looks up. (The offer has the side effect of briefly distracting her, at least.) "Is it a general anesthetic effect, or something more specific than that?"

"Anesthetic?" she asks, nearly tripping over the word. This is a place that still believes in the balancing of the humors. Christine knows that keeping things clean is important, but she doesn't know how infections happen or how to sterilize things. There is no germ theory here, but everyone knows that if you get darkspawn blood in your mouth or up your nose that you catch the Blight.

"Well, it's a rejuvenation spell. It makes you feel better if you're in pain. A regular healing spell doesn't work for some reason, because we can't get the shards out."

"Okay. Okay." To say Cosima is unfamiliar with magic is a massive understatement, but she's had her world turned upside down before. She'll manage. Somehow.

Almost absently, she adds, "Anesthetic is a substance used to temporarily numb pain or feeling in the body. It doesn't fix the underlying problem, but it offers the person some relief while the body is healing." A simplified explanation, though not untrue.

"That sounds very helpful. We have elfroot to relieve pain too. Perhaps it is similar?" Christine truly doesn't know enough rifters well enough to have heard something like this before. It's fascinating.

Up ahead, the Inquisition camp is set up with large tents dotting the landscape. Christine hopes Cosima can find some rest there after her ordeal.

"Maybe," Cosima allows, but trails off as she regards the camp in front of her. The running from demons and then closing a portal with her palm and some concentration... that had all seemed somewhat surreal.

This, though, is incredibly concrete and it's starting to sink in how very much this is not a dream.

"I think I need to sit down somewhere," she says, a bit faintly. She's hardly inclined to being any kind of damsel in distress, but all this is a lot to take in.

"Of course. Just stay with me," Christine replies, voice soft and soothing. She remains close to Cosima's side, but leads her over to a wooden bench by the fire.

"Here we are. Would you like some water?"

"Uh, yeah. Thank you." She really is grateful, but as the adrenaline wears off, she's also overwhelmed.

At least she's stopped coughing, she thinks, ruefully. She tries not to think about being stuck here. That problem will keep.

Christine leaves briefly to fill a cup with water and returns swiftly, sitting beside her and handing the cup over. While most in the Inquisition are used to the rifters by now, some still consider them demons or at least a danger to Thedas, so Christine doesn't want to stay away from Cosima's side long while they're away from the safety of Skyhold.

"I would suggest trying to sleep after your ordeal, though I understand if sleep will not come easily."

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youwonscience - 2016-07-10 13:30 (UTC) - Expand

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