[CLOSED] PLAYER PLOT: The Ashes Underneath His Nails

[amygdalae]

WHO: Jim Kirk, Hermione Granger, Adelaide Leblanc, Herian Amsel, Anders, Inessa Serra, Raylan Gibbs, Ciri
WHAT: The Inquisition sends a group of agents to uncover the truth behind a string of mysterious disappearances.
WHEN: Kingsway 1st - 8th
WHERE: Emprise du Lion
NOTES: Plotting post is here - feel free to post in there still for queries and concerns and further stuff where needed. Warnings for blood, violence, talks about death, experimentation horror, abomination-related stuff etc and eventual on-screen child death. ALSO no tag order - just respond when you feel like you should and I'll try to hit it back if it feels appropriate!!

QUICK JUMP LINKS TRAVELLING TO FROMAGE & FROMAGE GENERAL THREAD ROUTE INVESTIGATION SEEKRIT CAVE ENTRANCE INTO THE SEEKRIT CAVE CAVE INVESTIGATION - LEFT TEAM CAVE INVESTIGATION - RIGHT TEAM KID ABOMINATION THREAD BACK TO SKYHOLD

(—he remembers the chill of the frost and snow biting at bare skin, its usual pure white now tinged a horrid pink from the blood on his hands. He's far away from them now, the danger and the pain and everything else, but the blood will forever be on his hands no matter how much he tries to wash it away. His father had been right all along. He truly was a monster of the greatest kind.)

QUEST: THE ASHES UNDERNEATH HIS NAILS (PART I) The message had come swiftly, the letter itself hastily written with a shaky hand. The request itself was simple; a plea for help from a village at the outskirts of Emprise du Lion, whose people have been mysteriously disappearing over the last few weeks. Considering the ongoing civil unrest that's still transpiring in Orlais the Inquisition made its decision to send out a team of agents to look into this message and see exactly what was going on. The eight agents tasked with the mission were given enough time to prepare for the trip ahead. They would all meet up first at the Inquisition camp set within the Emprise and from there travel for about a day until they reached where their destination was - Fromage, a quaint little village that rested at the outskirts of the area. From that point on, it was up to the agents of the Inquisition to solve this ongoing mystery. The mission: to discover the truth behind these disappearances - and to stop it, if possible.

Comments

Village or traveling

[justice_is_blond]

He slips away for a time on his own, after they reach the village again. When he returns, he looks a little less broken, a little more human, but he's still quiet, still tired. What he'd done he had to do. He'd helped stop further pain. But he'd so badly wanted to help another abomination, and he'd so badly wanted to not kill another innocent ever again, and he'd failed at both.

On the journey he's a lot more quiet than usual as well. For once, he's not really starting a lot of conversations, though he does manage to drag himself out of his mental fog when someone speaks to him.

[circleprodigy]

For a while afterward, Inessa is not mentally all there. It was too much, far too much, especially for someone who bore witness to such horror in Kinloch Hold. This mission brought all the memories she had been trying so hard to bury to the surface, and she couldn't look away. So, she just shut down. No screaming or crying, just existing as though in a trance.

She seems to regain more of herself by the time the group has to stop for the night, and with Garahel in tow, she'll approach. "...I've ginger tea, if you need some." After what they've seen, she can't be the only one with a compromised stomach.

[justice_is_blond]

He looks up when she speaks, and despite the exhaustion and guilt there's a little relief in his eyes. The child had been beyond saving, but Anders had struck a blow and with his reputation he wasn't sure he'd come out of this with as many friends as he'd had.

"Thank you." That's a definite yes. "Are you..." No. That's a dumb question. None of them are all right. "Have a seat?" Better.

[circleprodigy]

Garehel, subdued at her side, takes that as an invitation to plop down on the ground while Inessa sits. She hands over the canteen, not having thought she'd really need its contents but fortunate to have planned without realizing it.

"You're welcome." She stares downward, shoulders slumping. "We did all that we could, didn't we? But..." ...it wasn't enough. It had all escalated so fast, and then they were forced to act.

[justice_is_blond]

He inhales and exhales a little shakily, working to keep a hold on everything as he sips.

"We did. We did." It's as much to convince her as it is to convince him. What if he'd gotten there sooner, spent less time paging through books, been able to find common ground with the boy? The what-ifs aren't something he can afford to dwell on, no matter how there are always more. "And I still..."

He's always going to remember the way the ice cutting into the boy's neck had felt. "We have a ritual. But what's the point if we can't even... I wanted to save him." Anders reaches down, into his pouch, and brings out the small stuffed nug.

[circleprodigy]

"...as did I. I know what it would have meant to everyone -and to you- if that had happened. I'm so sorry." A brief glance at that stuffed nug and suddenly the fire is the most fascinating thing in the world. Inessa bites her lip to keep it from trembling. "For a moment, it seemed as though that might have been possible. If we could save him, then that would be all that mattered. And then I heard that...thing...speak through him, and I might as well have been a child in the tower once more. I froze."

Her apologetic tone persists, hating that despite her Harrowing, Joining and numerous other dark memories, that this was the thing that broke her. She was supposed to be well past this trauma.

[justice_is_blond]

Uldred. He hadn't been there, having been escaped at the time, but he'd heard the stories from other mages, Jonas, and Oghren.

"I don't blame you for freezing." Whenever his greatest fear rears its head, he seizes up. "It would have been..." So nice, but he can't dwell on that. "But it didn't. And now he won't hurt anyone, or hurt any further."

The people who did this are still out there, but right now the trail seems cold. Maybe something in the notes will give their identities away. He shifts the nug in his hands before catching sight of Garahel glancing at it. This is probably cruel, him playing with a stuffed toy and not giving it to the mabari, and he goes to put it away before stopping.

"Inessa. How good is he with scents? If the boy lived near here..." It might not work. There's snow and ice on the ground. The boy might not have been from the village. But maybe they can find the house, find out his name, something. It's a half-formed mess of a thought.

[circleprodigy]

Glancing over at Garahel perking up slightly, the mabari understanding what's asked of him, Inessa smiles a little. "He's the best tracker I could ask for, without a doubt. If there's a scent worth catching and following, he'll find it. Isn't that right, boy?"

Garahel stands and nods, letting out a quiet bark. He wags that tail, eager to help despite his own exhaustion.

I've sent the question to KB of what we can find

[justice_is_blond]

He doesn't know what can come of this, but anything might be a relief. Anything. Anders leans forward, offering the nug to Garahel.

"Can you track this? Can you find his home, or... something?"

[circleprodigy]

Garahel sniffs at the nug, thoroughly, then takes it in his jaws and heads off. Standing, Inessa brushes herself off. "I guess that's a 'yes'. Let's see what he finds, then."

She grabs her staff almost without thinking, not about to leave it behind. The horror may be over, she's a long way from feeling safe.

They won't find anything in the end, alas. The trail is too old to be clear.

[justice_is_blond]

His staff has stayed on his back; despite how it's singed, it's still a useful tool that he wants on hand. Where there's red templars, there's headaches.

"He'll give it back, after?" It's clear that the mabari is being careful with it. Anders just feels a need to keep the nug. He'd killed another innocent after he'd promised himself he wouldn't, because it had been needed. The toy is a tangible reminder of how he needs to do better.

:(

[circleprodigy]

Glancing over and up to Anders, Inessa nods. "He will when I tell him to, yes. Garahel has enough toys and he knows that this won't be one of them." She follows a few paces behind her mabari, watching him pace along in pursuit of that scent. But after several minutes, it's apparent that his searching is more hopefully groping around than it is pursuing an actual trail. Inessa sighs. "If there was a trial to track, he would have found it. If he hasn't found one by now...I don't think he will."

There's a muffled whine from Garahel, who turns and gives them an apologetic stare, tail drooping.

[justice_is_blond]

He exhales, feeling disappointed on top of everything else, but knowing not to show it. Mabari are smart, and Garahel did what he could. There's snow on the ground and the Templars had so long to visit horrors upon the child; the odds weren't in the mabari's favor to start with.

"Thank you for trying, boy. Garahel. I appreciate it." It had been too much to hope.

[universal_charm]

Like most of the group, Kirk is quiet, absorbing what had happened, what they had found. The child would haunt him for the rest of his days, he thought, a reminder of how cruel this world could be. More than anything he wanted to find the people who had done this and punish them, because until then it left a sour taste in his mouth. There was no justice in this, and he hated knowing that it could happen again.

At some point on the journey he found himself beside Anders, reaching out and gently grasping his shoulder, giving him a squeeze.

"How are you holding up?" he asked him softly.

[justice_is_blond]

He looks over, startled a little by the sudden physical contact, but he relaxes quickly afterward. Kirk. Anders had been most worried about the Rifters not wanting something to do with him. Everyone else was at least familiar with killing abominations, even when they came in child form.

"I'm..." He shrugs, holding up his crystal. "I've had some help. Yourself? This can't be something you've, you're familiar with."

[universal_charm]

He nods when he sees the crystal, glad that he had been able to talk to someone up til now. He assumed it was Nathaniel, because who else did you call in crisis except the person you loved? For a brief second he thought of calling Sam, but it could wait for later.

"Death, you mean? I'm familiar enough with it," he shrugged. "Having to make the hard choice in a shit situation? Also familiar with. It just hurts a little more because, well, it was a kid."

He reached down, turning at a silver bracelet on his wrist.

"No matter where you are, it's always hard when it's a kid."

[justice_is_blond]

"I meant more the child. A lot of the Rifter worlds seem more peaceful than Thedas, and I wasn't sure you or Hermione would want to be near me considering my past combined with what I did in there."

He's not even sure how Nate is still fine with him, and Nate loves him. Anders nods toward the bracelet.

"Does that mean something?"

[universal_charm]

"Earth used to be a lot less peaceful," he snorted. "To much of our history is nothing but wars, fighting over god, resources, oil, and then for our own survival. And we might have finally managed, but the rest of the universe - well, some are definitely more peaceful than others."

He glanced to Anders, a concern and sympathy in his eyes.

"You did what needed doing. We all did."

Helping him bear the burden. Kirk was there, and while he might not have been part of the killing precisely, he had let it happen when he realized there was nothing that could be done for the child anymore. Letting it happen, in his opinion, made him as complicit as chopping off the child's head.

Fingers continued to pluck and turn the bracelet, huffing softly. "Not really. It was a recent gift, is all. Gives me something to fidget with."

[justice_is_blond]

All did. Kirk sees it as them all who did this, not just Anders and Herian. Anders swallows, hard, and his eyebrows go up as he tries to prevent any moisture showing in his eyes. If only it was this easy to forgive himself as it was for others to forgive him, but he'll take this.

"Mm," is what he says, voice slightly betraying him. "Recent gift, metal, I'm going to guess it's from a tentmate and that cats haven't suddenly learned metal work. Unless you've some... Earth? techniques for teaching cats that." He's mostly sure he got the name right. "I'd like to hear about that if so. Or about Earth, maybe how you stopped the fighting? I'm not... I'm not feeling picky." At all. A conversation that is about something completely different would be nice. He's been dwelling on the boy.

[universal_charm]

Was it forgiveness? Kirk would argue more than it was understanding. He couldn't forgive himself for what happened back there. He wasn't sure he ever could, or that he could forgive them all for what they had done. He was not such a good man as that. But he could understand, could look at it logically and say that they made the only choice that they could. And that didn't need forgiving.

"From Samouel," he said softly, ignoring the sound in Ander's voice for the moment. "And you're almost right. It's Earth, Earthian, and Earthling. And even we have not master teaching cats to do anything." His lips quirked in a wry little smile, happy to provide distraction.

"Why don't I tell you about First Contact instead?" he suggested. "It's a much happier story than how we learned to stop fighting. Though in some ways, it's part of the reason."

[justice_is_blond]

He was rather certain that Kirk and Sam were a thing, more than just a thing, but he wasn't going to press. It's not his business until and unless they're ready to talk about it. The other is a clear invitation, though, and Anders leans forward.

"Please. I'd like to hear it. How it ties in and the happier part." He hasn't heard a lot of stories from other worlds, not due to lack of interest, but lack of time and opportunity. This seems like the perfect timing.

[universal_charm]

"It was a little over two hundred years ago where I'm from," he began. "Earth had come out the other side of two pretty awful wars, and we'd finally learned to work together and began trying to advance ourselves beyond the limits of our planet."

This was both a very, very summarized tale of what had happened and a touch romanticized, but he didn't think it was worth talking about a war that nearly wiped out human kind just then.

"A man named Zeframe Cochrane launched the first ever man made vessel capable of warp speed travel into space. Perhaps appropriately it was called the Phoenix - mankind's scientific achievements, risen from the ashes of those terrible wars. Warp speed means to travel faster than light, which enables us to travel between stars and not take decades or even millennia. At any rate, another ship detected the energy readings from the Phoenix and came to inspect - and this ship belonged to the Vulcan."

He paused, as if he had been there himself and was recalling the momentousness of the occasion.

"They were the first, our first proof that life existed beyond our solar system, that the stars weren't dead, that we weren't alone. People has been searching for that answer to that question for hundreds of years and now - here it was. They were real and kind, if quite different from us, and we forged a partnership with them that would eventually lead to the founding of the organization I work for - Star Fleet."

He touched his breast where the emblem would have sat.

"Our people continue to be allies to this day."

He tilted his head to look at Anders, tale at an end.

[justice_is_blond]

Warp speed travel, phoenix, faster than light, a lot of things fly over his head. But that doesn't mean he's not following the basics. When they got into space, they did it in a way that got notice, and it got notice by people who thankfully didn't feel like conquering or killing.

"It's a good story," Anders says with a small smile. "I'm glad it worked out for you. For Earth. We..."

He exhales and gestures at Kirk. "We now have proof of other worlds. And some of us want to imprison you all, some think you're demons. I don't know what would be a wake-up call for us, but it would have to be so powerful to draw us out of the fear that so thoroughly permeates our culture."

Corypheus will be a temporary unification cause. Oppression and war will return as soon as the big threat is gone.

[universal_charm]

Kirk would have a thing or two to say if someone tried to imprison him. Most certainly he would fight it, and James T. Kirk did not give up easily. But that was not yet come and hopefully never would. So far, as much as he could tell, the Rifters had done nothing to provoke such an action. But he could easily see some certain people at Skyhold taking that action anyways.

"I wish I had a good answer for you. Ours - ours was violent, and nearly cost us everything. I would hope that this world could avoid that," he admitted. "If you would like my honest opinion - and it is opinion only - I think this world needs to pull away from religion. That was an issue on my world for a very long time, and I see the same things reflected here."

[justice_is_blond]

"I agree with the opinion. Some people need faith, need it to find the strength to go on. But both the Qun and the Chant of Light have become so abused as motive for hatred."

He frowns, leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. "You, I, no one will convince the Chantry to let go of their religion-based power, or the Qunari to let go of theirs. Not for a very long time. It's already a lot to hope we get freedom from harassment from the Chantry once the threat of Corypheus is over. After all, the Inquisition is a Chantry-based institution. This benefits the Chantry, shows they're protecting people. Once Corypheus is dead..."

Once he's dead, the Chantry might go back to old habits.

"Getting rid of the Chantry isn't going to happen any time soon. But it's possible if the right leader is chosen, it can start to recognize the personhood of mages, elves, and rifters."