faderift | You can't concern yourself with bigger things

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You can't concern yourself with bigger things

WHO: New rifters & their helpful rescuers
WHAT: People fall out of a rift and get attacked by stuff, it's pretty old hat by now (sorry Jefferson).
WHEN: Solace 7
WHERE: High in the Frostbacks, within a day of Skyhold.
NOTES: This log is open to any characters who would have volunteered to go welcome the rifters, whose arrival sites can now be predicted, thank you Solas. Rifters are also welcome to begin RPing at Skyhold as soon as they are ready.

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.

In this world, something has definitely died. But not you; not yet. When the afterimage left by a flare of too-bright, greenish light fades, you will find yourself in a pile of bones, stripped by teeth and weather, bleached almost as white as the snow that covers most of the rocky, mountainous terrain around you. Beneath its threadbare blanket, it's easy to pick out heaps of earth and stone and debris arranged in a rough ring-shape on the ground around you and the rift that just spat you out. Almost like...a nest? Whatever might once have lived here, it must have been very large, because the bones scattered about are the size of large livestock, at the least. Some of the bare rocks show what look like marks from very large claws, and where snow doesn't cover, the stone looks suspiciously scorched. There are no recent tracks, but maybe that's a good thing.

Less good: the cluster of demons that is emerging from the rift to take over the job of killing you. Some are tall, spindly stick-things with too many eyes, some hunched and hooded with no eyes at all, others mere wisps of greenish light. None look friendly or familiar. Also unfamiliar is the narrow splinter of light the same sickly green as whatever brought you here that now glows out of the palm of your left hand. It aches, a bone-deep pain that gnaws even through all the distractions. Hopefully you can set it aside enough to pick up a bone club and get to work in self-defense, because there is no immediate sign of road or path or settlement anywhere to be seen.

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A lot changes after you take a nonbeliever and convince them that anything is possible. What should be a relief can easily become a burden, especially when it comes with a title, and magic, and an awareness that even the most ridiculous situations are real. A few months ago Emma Swan would have questioned her ability to tumble into a world of bones and snow, but not now.

Right now she wishes she was still sleeping, because she knows better. Now she knows, almost immediately upon waking up, that this is real and happening. Portals and other worlds and whatever the hell those things are - all of it is possible, which means she's probably screwed. It's not a a nightmare; at this point, she's more inclined to call it her life and that's something Emma has learned to fight for. She scrambles up, putting weight on a hand that feels surprisingly sore and pushing past it while she searches around for some kind of weapon.

"No." Not again. Not another portal and another battle to get home. She may not know why these demons want her, but her fingers curve around the closest item she can find, which happens to be a large bone. It's not what Emma was hoping for, but if it helps her get out of this mess alive, she'll work with it. She's survived situations with less to work with, right? Even if her odds aren't great, she's not going down without a fight.

Given how much falling through a Rift into another world kind of sucks, Ruby is a great fan of the whole welcome wagon thing - especially given that the welcome wagon kind of helps makes sure no one gets eaten by a demon, or something. (Granted she's not sure if demons actually eat people at all, or whether that's her own personal brand of paranoia settling in to make things extra fun, but hey. Helping people just to survive the demons is a good enough reason, regardless.)

She's also of the general opinion that Rifters have seen enough in the last thirty seconds to not need to see a woman turn into a Wolf, too, so her first attack comes in the form of an arrow that bites deep into the demon's throat, swiftly followed by another.

"We're here to help." Would hopefully go without saying, but again, there's a whole bunch going on. There's more to say, about explanations being possible and demons and Rifts and laying out a tactic or something, but instead her gaze finally falls on the woman and she feels her jaw drop a little. "Emma?"

It's close to her and then it's down, and that's enough for Emma to know that she can fight these demons. They're not much and yet intensely unsettling, regardless of whether they have too many eyes or none at all. She doesn't care what these things do as long as they don't get a chance to do it to her, and she has her weapon at her side when her rescuer gets closer. Her focus had been on the enemy before, but as soon as she turns toward her name, it's all on the woman who saved her.

"Ruby?" This should be impossible, because Ruby was in Storybrooke. But throw in the rest of it, the fact that she was just in Storybrooke and is now as screwed as the rest of them, and she's not gonna argue against the possibility of more of Storybrooke being here. All she can do is move toward her friend, cautiously trying to keep track of her surroundings even though Ruby's heightened senses are probably on autopilot right now. "Where did you come from?"

The idea of her being here with a group implies that someone organized this. It might not matter much in the moment, but those questions are going to come as soon as she's allowed to ask them. For now, she settles for looking the other woman over in an effort to make sure she's kept herself safe in all the commotion. Ruby can handle herself, but Emma knows as well as anyone that it's just as important to know someone has your back. "More importantly, where are we going?"

"Skyhold."

It's the first thing that comes to her mind, two syllables bluntly spoken because part of her thinks that's obvious, right? You know and another part of her just feels numb, like when you've been holding your hand in ice water so long that you can't tell that there's warm water running over it instead.

She shakes her head. More certainly, "Back to the Inquisition."

There's a shade drifting closer, and she jerks her head towards it, reaching for another arrow. "I'll fill you in later."
For now she might just have to content herself with making sure Emma gets out of this all in once peace, rather than the touching reunion. This seemed so impossible, and Emma seemed so much more--

Vibrant wasn't the right word, and yet part of her thinks that maybe it is. Less darkness, more vibrance, and both of those factors are matters for future Ruby to deal with.

The problem is that she doesn't know. Skyhold? The Inquisition? None of that means anything to her. There's no time to fill in the blanks, Emma is aware that there's too much going on for Ruby to explain herself or give her some kind of tour. What she's hoping for is a chance to feel useful, but without a gun or an arrow, she hardly knows where to start. Demon filtering in from a hell dimension isn't exactly what she was expecting. Throw in a friend from home and the severity of the situation isn't lost on her. Hers isn't the only life she's worried about protecting here.

"What do you need me to do?" If Ruby knows what they're doing here and where they're going, she's the person to ask. There's confusion in her gaze when she glances back to her friend, anxious but as trusting as ever. There's no trace of darkness in her; it's all fear and frustration, and maybe some disappointment that this is what their lives have become. Disasters are normal, it's the downtime that surprises her.

Everyone said she broke the curse, but when things like this are still possible, sometimes Emma isn't so sure.

A bolt of electricity from elsewhere in the field takes the shade down, and gives Ruby time to cross closer to Emma, crowing a dagger from her side and twisting it in her hand so she can offer it to Emma handle first. "Here. Hopefully they won't get this close."

Hopefully, but she's not going to chance leaving Emma without a weapon. "This group won't take long to deal with." And then she musters up a grin, and she hopes like hell that it's reassuring. "I'll watch your back if you watch mine?" As if this isn't potentially dangerous, though the slightly reassuring edge to her smile sign posts her tone for what it is, rather than being flippant.

Hopefully sounds a lot to ask in this place, where she'll take the blade over the chance of outrunning it anytime. She reaches for it and nods gratefully, turning back to where the shade was a moment ago before even that makes her feel like she needs to focus. It's a disorienting arrival to a world she wasn't expecting to travel to, but she'll take Ruby's optimism to mean they're not totally screwed. There aren't so many of them that they can't be taken down, and back home, that's pretty much what Emma does. These are the bad guys, they're going to fight them.

"Deal." She's guessing the blade works just about every time, so she finds her grip on it scans the area, well-aware of one demon around her who's going to regret getting close. "Let's get this over with." The sooner they fight through this, the sooner she'll get some answers.

Church is learning that, hey, maybe he should just start lugging his sword around, because he actually manages to hit things with it, instead of pretending to be able to hit things with his crossbow. Besides, it's crazy more dramatic and will totally impress the ladies if he looks like a dashing knight. Right? Right.

"Jesus," he curses, climbing his way up to what everyone can only assume is some kind of dragon's nest, "damn it," this is not a fun place to be with the cold and snow and height and why can't they just be back in the Plains, at least then they can walk in tall grass and hopefully not get killed in a civil war, "motherfucking--oh hey."

He pants for a moment at the edge of the nest because fuck this hike, catching his breath, then heaves himself the rest of the way up. Wow look at these blondes. "Okay, hi, don't panic, but also maybe panic just a little bit until these guys are taken care of." He pulls out his sword, which is thankfully not a euphemism, and charges at one of the ghostly green spirits. Because ummm...fuck those spindly guys and those hooded guys. Church picks his battles, thank you very much.

Despite being made of who even knows what, the sword connects with...something. He is not elegant in his swinging, but at least he does damage to the thing for a couple of hits before pulling back so he doesn't get blasted by magical-y fade-y energy up close and personal. "I'd keep moving. Move. Move!" Where? Anywhere but in the same spot.

Where is the question. Emma takes off at his advice, but don't ask her if she knows where she's going, because she still hasn't figured out where the hell she is. The panic's a definite when she's surrounded by bones, and she's guessing that was a dragon but the last one she killed made a different kind of magical mess. They don't do this in Storybrooke, even with portals and disasters and threats against the town. Back home it's always a person, not a group of dead things in an area already covered with the remains of one other enormous dead thing.

She doesn't care how Church managed to kill that thing as long as he did. Leave it up to her and the sword-swinging wouldn't be much better, but having people here to help with the fight means they need to work through this together. There's time when there's some distance between them and the demons, until there's enough rock coverage to hide them from their attackers. Although if she had to guess, she'd say it's the newcomers who were the target. Those guys might now show up without an open portal to work with.

"What the hell is all of this?" If there's a second to breathe she'd like to use it getting answers. "How do we get rid of them?" As much as she'd like the full explanation, there's not enough time for her to get everything she wants. They need to work on getting someplace safe, and she's still assuming this isn't it. This isn't her first trip through a portal, and now that she has a home to get back to, it won't be her last.

Even in the midst of battle, Church would still like to look cool and super awesome because of course!! Besides, he can form a plan in the middle of it! He tries to kick up a skull into his hands, bashes his foot against it, curses, and then picks up a...decidedly smaller skull to use as a shield.

That's cool, right? Until it gets blasted almost immediately out of said hand. He rolls his eyes and moves, following this newcomer to some small brand of shelter, even though he's sure that won't last long. "Fucking of course it doesn't fucking work out..."

He can't pick anyone off from here without his crossbow, but honestly, it might be for the better to once again let the movers and shakers do all the heavy lifting while he helps pick off some of the little green ghosties. "Uh. Okay. So. Welcome to Thedas 101. You fell through a portal in space and time through a demon dimension into a real life session of D&D. And depending on what kind of world you came from, that will either make perfect sense or you'll look at me like I'm speaking in tongues."

The first thing Emma takes away from her their interaction (second, really, to whatever he tried to do with a dragon skull) is the name of wherever the hell they are, and unfortunately it doesn't ring any bells.

Thedas is an unknown to her, confusion that's balanced out against the annoyance that comes with knowing exactly how portals to other dimensions work. It'll close and she'll be screwed, and even if there was a way back towards where it'd opened up, she doesn't like her odds against an army of those creatures.

He said they were demons and that explains a lot. "Half of it makes sense." The part where she understands the references, not the idea of her being in the middle of this. Thedas doesn't sound like any fairytale world she's ever heard of, who the hell did she piss off this time? "How do I get back to my world?" Maybe she should have started by asking how she fights them, but if there is a window of opportunity, Emma isn't about to miss it.

"Uhhhhh, we're working on that. Right now the answer is 'you don't', and it sucks exactly as much as it sounds like. You've got an added bonus of having a painful lil piece of shit in your hand. You'll do cool shit with it eventually, probably. Liiiike closing those things." With a point to the rift she fell out of.

Yeah, that thing that she might be thinking of somehow going back through. "Yeah, no, see, those things? Need closed. Because those things," with a point at the HORRIFYING DEMONS, "come out of them too. It's kinda like a portal to a hell dimension. It sucks. Trust me." The Fade is terrible and he never wants to go back please thank you.

The next pertinent question: "How good are you in a fight, scale of 1-5? 1 being 'hey I'm just gonna sit here and let you protect me oh brave and truly studly knight', 5 being 'I got this on lockdown and sweep the floor and you'll be picking your jaw up off the floor'."

"The green glowing thing is magic? I already -" Have that, and probably shouldn't be announcing it to strangers in the middle of nowhere. She shuts her mouth as quickly as she opened it, looking back toward the portal at his explanation. There goes her chance at using a portal (like that one) to get back to where she came from. They're probably one wrong turn away from a hell dimension, and with her luck, she'd end up there.

"Between those extremes?" Brave and studly, come on now. "You won't need to protect me but I won't do it all on my own." She's the savior and her instinct is to protect people, but she's never fought these things before. A little backup is necessary and she's not afraid to admit it. Seems like he's perfectly capable of pitching in.

"We need to fight them until they're gone, don't we?" Destroyed or sent back to wherever the hell they came from. She's assuming they can't be left to run around here. Now that she's had a few seconds to catch her breath, she's good to get back into it if he is.

"Magic is everywhere, and it's fucking annoying to people who have never had to deal with magic before." Wave. Hi. Like himself. Where all the tech at, bros?

"Okay, cool, I mean, if you said you didn't know which end of a sword was the pointy one, I'd still be fine with that, but this makes things a liiiiittle easier. And yeah. Yeah, those things have all gotta go. We got fucking rad mages who can barbecue things pretty well, so, y'know, I kinda tend to leave the worst for them." What, battle-bred mages gonna battle, apparently. "Still. Yeah, gist of it. Fight 'em 'til they're gone and they kinda dissipate into nothingness."

"Mages?" At some point someone's going to have to tell her what those are. For now, she can tell that fucking rad isn't a part of their actual description, and that there's magic involved. Sounds like she came into a world that's no better off than the remains of the Enchanted Forest during her last stumble into a portal.

Except back then, she had Mary Margaret to help her navigate this, and right now, it's looking like she's on her own. "Alright, so we fight. And when they're gone?" What's the plan? She doesn't know where the hell any of these people came from, but considering they're pulling out all the stops for a rescue, she needs to know where to go if they get separated.

"When they're gone, rift gets sealed up, we take you guys back to our mountain fortress in the middle of nowhere and get you settled in. Maybe you get an angry woman demanding you join the Inquisition. Just call her names, that's what I always do." Yeah, and how's that working out for you, Church? At least it wasn't the name calling that almost got his head cut off, and sure, things with rifters seem to have calmed down some since Galadriel's been released, but...eh...

"Pseudo-military independent peacekeeping force kinda deal. Mostly legit. Probably won't let you do anything fun and shiny unless you pledge allegiance though. Oh, spoilers: this world is kind of on the brink of tearing itself apart. So. Good times."

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You can't concern yourself with bigger things

emma swan | once upon a time

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