Player Plot: My Father's Eyes

[aceso]

WHO: Christine Delacroix, Korrin Ataash, Sam Gareth, James Norrington (+ NPC Templars), Bruce Banner, Ingrid Kief, Aleron Darton, Church
WHAT: The group is off to stop Red Templars and visit the Empress's soldiers.
WHEN: IC it's August 30 for the main event, add a few days of padding for travel time to and from.
WHERE: southeast Orlais, not many days out from Skyhold at a front in the War of the Lions
NOTES: Violence and mention of injuries. OOC post is here for reference.

Starters in comments below!

Comments

[aceso]

She's slept with Church and Asher. Clearly she likes men with no brain-to-mouth filter. Why does she do this to herself? Why?

Christine listens to his description of his teammates. She expected there to be more of them, honestly, but she does like that he gives more than a vague description. As he talks, Christine's horse drifts away and she's forced to release his hand, but she's still listening carefully, face expressing surprise at some points.

She wonders if they will find soldiers who feel similarly about their enemy when they reach the front, or if they will still be passionate about their cause. She wonders what her father thinks of the fighting. He is no longer a young man, after all.

"Would you like it if they came tumbling in through a rift? You would finally have people who understand all you reference, and who would be on the same footing as you." It can't be easy to end up in a world where you don't have your standard weapon or anything else familiar.

[motherfucking_ghost]

Awwww, hand.

"God no. I've run into a couple other Rifters here who I'm mostly on the up and up with as far as understanding culture and some technology, so that's been great honestly. But to have my asshole teammates drop in? I wouldn't really wish it on them. No offense," he adds quickly. "I mean I'm getting used to being here, but it's a super culture and lack-of-technology shock."

Plus, at least he's kind of sort of dead. The others are probably alive. They should be. So they've got important shit they have to pretend to do. "And then you've got all the other assholes in my life. We kiiiind of sort of got reinforcements in the form of the sister of one of the guys on the other side, but she's super ditzy and, uh, slutty? And really doesn't belong on the battlefield. God, and this one guy, he shoved his way into our lives from another unit, highly elite, it's really complicated, and he's a fucked up jackass. I mean...he's seen shit that can't be unseen, and he let it and things like revenge and shit cloud himself up. And then there's everyone on the other team! What a bunch of jackasses. It's always red versus blue, me against you, but we can work together if we've got a unifying cause."

[aceso]

Her hand will still be there later for holding purposes.

"It is all right. I have often wondered what it would be like if our places were reversed and I fell through a rift to one of these other worlds. I would not fare well, I think."

The way Church speaks, it's easy to see that the group he's surrounded by at home frustrates him. Perhaps it's in that familial way, where you put up with them because something deep down connects you.

Or maybe they really are just a bunch of assholes.

"Then... would you return home, if the way was found? I mean, if the way was voluntary, would you leave here and go back to them?"

[motherfucking_ghost]

Both. It's both. But, haha, getting actual affection to come out of his mouth about the Reds and Blues???

"Ye--" He stops before he finishes the word, realizing that the reflex answer doesn't actually work here. His mouth clamps shut for a few long moments, his gaze distant and lingering in the space between their mounts, brow furrowed deep.

"Actually, no." He doesn't want to get into the details, obviously, not in front of people who might share Cassandra's opinion of lopping off heads, but he ought to say something. "Things weren't looking good where I was, before I ended up here. I don't know how it works, but if I go back to that moment in time, I'll probably end up dead."

He is dead, is what he wants to say, and going back will mean ceasing to exist. There won't even be a body, because there never was a body. Well, except that first one. And the robot bodies. But no...no Church. And he thinks existing is pretty awesome sometimes. (Less so other times, but the wanting to exist days outweigh the not wanting to exist days.)

[aceso]

Christine watches him, lips pressed tightly together. She isn't a terribly social creature, but the people she's surrounded herself with are those she's chosen to be there, for whatever reason. She knows that Church will most likely not have a say in returning home. If a rift brought him here, then perhaps a rift will appear and drag him through back home. But if he has a choice... well, it lightens her heart to hear he'd stay.

"Then I hope you can stay," she says quietly. "I know this world is so different, and coming in during a war cannot be easy, but if it looks as though you might die if you return, then I would rather you stay."

[motherfucking_ghost]

"Yeah," he says, quietly enough that maybe she doesn't hear him. It's a strange thing, to know you're living on borrowed time. He hasn't made much effort to come to grips with what he was told, what he had seen, before getting flung into Thedas, and since saying most of that out loud would probably get his head cut off, he's happy just letting it sit there, cooking, not even giving it more than a passing glance.

Oh, sure, it'll probably explode someday into tiny fragmented pieces and drive him crazy, but at least he'll be sane for a good while before that happens. Plus, denial is a huge coping mechanism he is all too happy to lean on.

"Yeah," he says louder, with a cocky grin in her direction, "I've gotta say, I really like living. There's all sorts of fun activities you can do while you're alive."

[aceso]

Ah, there's that grin of his. She has to admit that it's good to see. It takes her mind off the possibly terrible things she'll encounter soon enough.

"Yes, I am well aware. Enjoy life for as long as you can, yes?" It's what she's been trying to do since she left the Circle.