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faderift2016-09-21 08:07 am
eviscerates) wrote in faderift2016-09-21 08:07 am
( open ) like some child possessed, the beast howls in my veins
WHO: Ruby Lucas & open.
WHAT: Following the events of the missing shard bearer plot (here) Ruby insists on being taken to the dungeons and held there until she is fully detoxed from lyrium.
WHEN: From a gently timey-wimey point in mid-September to early October, at least. She may be in the dungeons longer, depends a bit.
WHERE: THE DUNGEONS, Skyhold.
NOTES: Rumours page & OOC report details, although the latter is more likely pertinent to people who were on the mission/were told about the mission directly/the advisors than general gossip. Alsi new cr is welcome! Ruby's info sheet is here.
WARNINGS: Horror themes! Reference to the events of the shard bearer plot, which include the Wolf attacking and eating people, forced lyrium ingestion, hallucinations, death, violence, torture.
WHAT: Following the events of the missing shard bearer plot (here) Ruby insists on being taken to the dungeons and held there until she is fully detoxed from lyrium.
WHEN: From a gently timey-wimey point in mid-September to early October, at least. She may be in the dungeons longer, depends a bit.
WHERE: THE DUNGEONS, Skyhold.
NOTES: Rumours page & OOC report details, although the latter is more likely pertinent to people who were on the mission/were told about the mission directly/the advisors than general gossip. Alsi new cr is welcome! Ruby's info sheet is here.
WARNINGS: Horror themes! Reference to the events of the shard bearer plot, which include the Wolf attacking and eating people, forced lyrium ingestion, hallucinations, death, violence, torture.
She’s never forgotten that she’s a monster, that the people of Storybrooke had been ready to take up arms against her. Ruby Lucas wasn’t the sweet girl who remembered your coffee order and fixed you whiskey neat from the top shelf on a bad day. She was a vicious, wild thing. The Big Bad Wolf.
After the mission she told them to kill her or shackle her, and when she arrived back to Skyhold she refused to go to the medical tents. It wasn’t worth the risk - keep her locked up, keep her cloak bound across her throat so she couldn’t pull it away during a delirium. She had to stay in at least a month, she had to try and keep people safe.
The first two weeks she’s still recovering from her injuries and the lyrium is still distorting her memories and thoughts and what she sees, leaves her with a constant thirst and the unhealthy pallor in her skin is obvious. Treating the injuries will be ongoing, but the first week she sleeps almost constantly, and the second she is struggling with memories. If people visit during this time there is ever chance of her mind taking flashes from other people’s memories though she can’t make sense of much of anything.
After that she can be found in different states.
She might sit on the floor with her hands through the bars, putting together the most basic, non-volatile components and mechanisms for traps, setting then all in a box to be taken to the Requisition officer.
She might be standing with rotten fruit sliding down the side of her face and splattered across her clothes, perfectly still. Either the guard just hauled the offending fruit thrower who posed as a visitor out, or they might have been distracted by another job so the produce producers are there to be chased off. Unless your character would throw fruit? But then they might be hauled away.
(Note: probably only two of this one unless we work something particular out, just because I don’t want to undermine the efficiency of the Inquisition’s guards at protecting prisoners, even willing ones.)
Ruby may have stripped down some and be treating her wounds and attempting to change dressings and apply poultices, because healers shouldn’t have to go into her cell, as far as she’s concerned. Vicious puncture wounds dot her skin, perfect circular marks that are mostly uniform, but vary in size here and there. There is a jagged gash over her ribs and a burn across the other side, which make her hiss as she tries to pull the rank dressing away.
Or maybe she’s just sitting or lying down on her side, defeated and curled inward.
Wildcards welcome, pick your own location-limited adventure and give me an idea of timeframe/if you are okay with Ruby picking up memories or not if it’s set during the first couple of weeks.
no subject
"I thought there'd be a report," she says, and the line of her mouth turns sad, tugging unhappily at the corners.
"I— I hurt people. On the mission, when the Venatori gave us lyrium I lost control. My memories were all twisted around, and I forgot how to control the Wolf. And I hurt people. I don't remember it, but I tore apart the Venatori, and I attacked people from the Inquisition."
Her words are stilted and painful and she looks down. "I'm in here so I can't hurt anyone else."
no subject
And neither had Martel - though, to be fair, their conversation had focused on...other things. She's silent for a moment, staring down at Ruby, making herself wait. It's so tempting to allow her frustration to get the best of her, to demand an answer that makes sense. The young woman's condition is beginning to scare her, and Cassandra's reaction to fear has always been the same. To go on the offensive. To banish it.
But that will only make things worse.
"Whatever you did under the influence of the Venatori, you are not responsible for," she says, trying to keep her voice as calm and reassuring as possible. She wrinkles her brow in confusion. Wolf? What wolf?
"And you are certainly not responsible for controlling any wild animals."
no subject
She had forgotten that just because she was open about it now, because people sometimes knew by word of mouth or from seeing it on missions, that it didn't mean it was common knowledge. Maybe it was because of the Shapeshifter thing, maybe it was just that Cassandra, like most military leaders, had better things to do than listen to gossip. "I change forms, but I'm not a Shapeshifter— being a Wolf is passed down in my family. My mother, my grandfather, me. I'm the Wolf. And I've been able to control it for so long, but then the lyrium made me forget how."
She can feel the tears stinging her eyes and she doesn't do a good job of ignoring them, wiping them away with the heel of her palm.
"I killed— I tore the Venatori apart like they weren't even people. And I attacked our people. Good people, Seeker Pentaghast, they got hurt because of me. Even if the lyrium made it happen, I didn't—" Her breath is a shuddering, painful thing. "I wanted to keep the Inquisition safe."
no subject
Cassandra cuts herself off, staring at Ruby in astonishment and slow, creeping horror. Her eyes flick over her, as if expecting to catch sight of fangs or a tail.
But it is only Ruby, small and broken in her cell.
"You are a werewolf?"
She doesn't offer comfort in the face of Ruby's obvious guilt - she can't, yet, still caught up on the fact that the young woman in front of her is -
A monster, something inside her whispers.
no subject
Ruby swallows thickly, slow and painful and rasping.
"The Wolf-- the Wolf is part of me. And I learned to control that side a long time ago."
Her breath hitches, and she looks down. "They stole my control from me. I'm not coming out until the lyrium's out of my system. I won't."
no subject
She's heard less plausible stories, she supposes. And it is a relief to hear that Ruby has some way of controlling this. Or at least claims that she does.
But now that the shock has faded somewhat, Ruby's misery is all too obvious. Cassandra's expression softens, and she drops into a crouch, trying to meet Ruby's eyes.
"You were not in control," she reminds her, gentle but firm. "You were not responsible. And I have never seen you hurt anyone in all the time you have been here, whether purposefully or not. Whatever happened, it was not your will. You must not let it weigh on you."
no subject
Ruby glances up to meet Cassandra's gaze, then. "I'm not fearless, at all. I get scared all the time. I'm just so scared I'll get out of here and the lyrium might have warped me, somehow. Red Templars were the first things I saw when I got here, I don't— what if we're all permanently changed, the same way?"
Blue, she remembers, something about the blue is different to the red beyond simple colour, but her brain can't pick through information or focus the way she normally would.
no subject
"I have read the report," she says. "The lyrium you were injected with is dangerous, yes. It is horrifying - inhumane that such a thing was forced upon you. But only normal lyrium was used, the same lyrium used by mages and templars alike for years beyond measure. The red lyrium that has infected and deformed the Red Templars is something entirely different, and there is no evidence that it was used."
She pauses, hoping that Ruby is listening, and that she is capable of understanding.
"You will continue to experience its effects until the lyrium leaves your body. You may suffer from withdrawal for some time, but that will not last. But its effects will be temporary, Ruby. The effects of blue lyrium are well-known. I can assure you that whatever you might have suffered at the hands of the Venatori, it will fade."
no subject
Obviously, some part of her mind supplies. She might not know Cassandra well. She knows enough of her, though, to have deduced that she's not really the kind of person who makes meaningless comments, who placates. For better or worse, Seeker Pentaghast was a battering ram of honesty. Adelaide is no nonsense, too, but it's hard not to think that she might have a little imperative to believe in Ruby, or even just to tell her that she'll be okay.
Ruby swallows, nods a little, and exhales a shaky breath.
"Would it be—" She frowns. "Would you think less of me if I asked not to go on any missions for a little while, when I'm out of here? I think I'm maybe going to need some time."
no subject
But Ruby knows that already, she thinks. She waits patiently, and not without sympathy, as Ruby struggles to find her words - obviously still very much not herself. Her expression softens with compassion at the young woman's question.
"I would not think less of you at all," she says quietly. "I think that would be very wise."
And she herself plans on keeping a very close eye on Ruby in the coming weeks, just in case - but there is no need to share that with her, and make her feel worse.
no subject
The words are little more than an exhale themselves. "I didn't—"
A little frown, dissatisfied with how her brain is failing to organise her thoughts. "I was trying so hard not to think of all the magic here as being as dangerous as what we have at home, that not every spell will tear people's lives apart. I forgot that it isn't the magic itself that does it. It's the people."
She swallows, and her breath shakes very slightly. "I forgot how terrible the people could be, Seeker."
no subject
"They can be," she allows quietly. "I do not need to tell you that. You have seen it for yourself." She pauses.
"But I trust I no more need to tell you that that sort of person is the exception, rather than the rule. Most people, I believe, truly wish to do good, though our opinions of what that means, and our methods, may differ. That, too, you have seen."
no subject
What Cassandra says next is reassuring, though the little tug at the corner of Ruby's mouth looks more tired than good humoured. "And sometimes one person's idea of doing good can hurt someone else. Good intentions can be pretty dangerous."
The tone isn't condemning, or even dismissive - more just pensive.
no subject