at any second now I think it all might fall apart

[motherfucking_ghost]

WHO: Leonard Church and open
WHAT: Loud-mouthed Rifter is loud. He also has a body with which he's kind of trying not to get dissociated from. So that's a thing. Rifters gonna rift, basically.
WHEN: In the days after the scouting trips have left
WHERE: Around Skyhold
NOTES: N/A

Kitchens

Church has...slowly been picking things up in his stay here in High Fantasy Land. Adelaide's stern warning not to go around telling people he was a ghost (or, apparently, some manner of spirit-and-or-demon) has so far been heeded, since it seems there's already an air of distrust, and, well, he'd really rather not get a sword through the gut. But it still might come out.

Because the other thing he's been picking up in High Fantasy Land is getting used to a real boy's body. Sure, a lot of it comes naturally. Walking. General movements. Blinking. Breathing. Automatic functions. But there's also the stuff he's become more consciously aware of. That he still knows how to do, technically, but his hole-filled memory means remembering eating a chicken leg is one thing, whereas the realization that he has, in fact, never actually eaten before slides unsettlingly into place.

Maybe the food here isn't that good and isn't that much, given how many people the Inquisition has to feed, and maybe some people are miffed that someone who technically isn't part of the Inquisition gets to have a share (cuz, y'know, where else are Rifters gonna go until the ~phenomenon~ gets better researched), but here Church is, at some point or another, savoring. The first meals he's ever technically had. And he's decided that eating rocks. It's no wonder Grif does nothing but fucking eat.

Stables

A stable (heh) sleep schedule is still so far elusive. Again, he remembers sleep. He's also pretty sure he could sleep (or...power down or get put into sleep mode??) before, but it's kind of like interdimensional jet lag. And trying to let his body work out how much sleep is too much or not enough. It basically being winter now isn't helping, when the sun comes up late and goes down early. Hell, he's used to planets where the sun basically never sets!

It isn't like Church has an particular fondness for animals, that he knows of, but he hasn't visited the stables yet, so why the fuck not. And despite all the open air, it's actually pretty cozy and warm in here. When he sits on a bit of hay, look, he doesn't mean to nod off, but his body decides, yep, this is a good place for a nap.

A horse may or may not be chewing on his hair.

Armory

It's probably a bad idea to argue with someone who not only has a lot of weapons and armor around, but makes them. For a living.

So obviously that's what he's gonna fucking do. Because there has got to be something better. The argument started as mere conversation but has slowly and steadily reached a volume where a small gaggle of onlookers has stopped to watch how long until Church is hefted up and physically thrown out.

"Do you see what this means?!" he goes on, pointing to his sharded hand. "It means I'm from somewhere else, a place where I know a little bit more about otherworldly weapons than you probably do! So when I say," he continues, emphatically motioning the whole while, "hey, that's cool what you've got there, but do you have anything else, like any of these rad future weapons, you're supposed to say, gee, that sounds cool, why don't you tell me about them! Not threaten to bean me over the head with a helmet! I'm just trying to help!"

Needless to say, the armorer is Not Impressed with the 'rad' and 'cool' 'future' weapons Church is attempting to list. Something something plasma sword (that is, somehow, also a key?), something something assault rifle, something something basic fucking gunpowder how far behind the times are you people?!, and the like.

And don't even get him started on leather as armor. Puh-lease.

Or catch him elsewhere!

Comments

[motherfucking_ghost]

Unfortunately for her, he has the answers to few-to-none of those questions. The whole planet wasn't the gulch, obviously, but...damn if sometimes it didn't feel like the whole world.

"Holy shit, is it? No wonder it's kind of cozy compared to literally everywhere else around here. I'm sure it's fine. Literally. Literally everything was covered in snow and ice. Like, aside from the base, there...really wasn't anything. Rocks? I guess there were some rocks."

He shakes his head. "And there are people here. And I don't just mean squadmates, cuz, I had those, but...you guys have a community here. It's a town all to itself. Hell, the last place I was stationed, I was by myself! So it's...not all bad. Just...weird for me."

[serannas]

"It's definitely something special," Ellana agrees. Of course there are tensions here and clashes between groups, but things could be a whole lot worse. It's still early days for them, but so far they have food, shelter, and the supplies they need to go out into the world and help.

"Hopefully it's not so weird that you aren't getting to know people? It sounds like you could use the company after what you were doing back home."

[motherfucking_ghost]

"Company," he echoes, taking another thoughtful chew of bread. Yeah, sure, he'd been at that shithole of a base by himself in the wake of Tex getting blown the hell up, but then he had to deal with Wash, and Caboose, and, hell, the rest of the Reds and Blues. Somehow they always fucking found each other.

So, time spent with people he hates, or time spent bored out of his mind with nothing but his internal monologue to keep him company?

"Yeah, I run into people. Dunno that you could say I'm making friends with anyone." Gee, Church, maybe your personality has something to do with that?

[serannas]

"Friendship can take time," she answers. "And you've landed in the middle of a tense situation with people who can be very passionate about their views. I wouldn't call it a lost cause just yet." But then again, Ellana tends to be an optimist.

By now she's close to finishing her roll, and she gets the sense Church will finish the rest of the basket on his own. Maybe he burns off all his food as a soldier. Except that's not what he is here.

"What kind of soldier were you?" she asks, thinking of the three classes of combat they have here.

[motherfucking_ghost]

"A damn good one," he says on automatic, even though he realizes this was not at all the case. He was just an okay soldier-y type that happened to be a half-decent leader among a bunch of assholes and idiots and. Ugh. He does not want to miss those assholes and idiots. Caboose would have a field day here.

"I mean, I didn't really rise in the ranks, but the situation was pretty tricky. I was a private but still took command of my team. Kind of a sniper, kind of a leader, kind of just one of the guys. Wore a couple hats."

[serannas]

"Now that sounds interesting. I know what it's like to wear a couple hats myself, but nothing so important as being a soldier." For her, it was just trying to find a place she could fit in the clan by doing a bunch of little tasks, without ever excelling at any of them. A jack of all trades, but master of none of them.

"Did you use a bow?" she asks, making an assumption based on his sniper comment.

[motherfucking_ghost]

"A bow--no, god no, uh. Look, where I'm from, things are like a lot more advanced than bow and arrow. We've got really, really good armor and guns that like...uhhhh they're like really really advanced bows, kind of? Like. Shooting metal pellets at really fast speeds, faster than a bow. Stuff like that."

There's a moment where he wonders if he's fucking something up in space/time by trying to explain Future Stuff^TM to backwards people, but, eh, it never made a god damn difference before.

"So...if you're not a soldier, but you're here, what do you do? Seems like it's mostly soldier-y folks. And some doctors and merchants and shit."

[serannas]

While it's definitely unlike anything she's ever heard before, Ellana can't help but be fascinated by what he's telling her, and she's not even an archer. Warfare sounds like it's really come along in his world and the worlds he's been stationed on.

"Oh, I'm still trying to figure that all out. I came here to help the Inquisition however I could. I've fought in combat a bit so far, so I guess in a way, I'm a soldier. But I also did reconnaissance to see where some missing scouts went. Really stealthy stuff, which was new for me. Here at Skyhold, I'm on the Mage Council, to make sure the mages here are being looked after."

[motherfucking_ghost]

"I'm sorry, are you saying that the people that sling around magic like fireballs and lightning need to be looked after? Cuz...if you can do that, and be a stand-in doctor, sounds like they should pretty well be able to stand for themselves."

[serannas]

It's moments like these where Ellana has to remind herself that outsiders have no idea what being a mage in Thedas is like, and she has to laugh because he's right; it sounds like they should all be on top of the world, like the magisters of Tevinter think themselves to be.

"There are ways of controlling magic, or negating it," she replies. "We certainly aren't all powerful, and what's more, we're susceptible to demons because of our magic. It's a long, complicated history, but to sum up: some think we're a danger to others, and with cause. And some of those people can dispel our magic and leave us powerless against their weapons."

[motherfucking_ghost]

"Demons," he echoes, because yeah, Adelaide had mentioned something like that, too. "Like, the whole being possessed by something nasty because...uh, because something about magic connects you to, I dunno, some other hell dimension, right? That does kind of sound like a shit deal."

[serannas]

"The Fade," she answers patiently, knowing it probably sounds like a story to him and nothing more. "It's an unfortunate reality of this world, I'm afraid. And now that rifts have opened up everywhere, people who aren't mages are seeing demons for the first time."

[motherfucking_ghost]

"Okay, so this Fade thing. What is it? Like, in layman's terms. Imagine someone who doesn't have magic in their world--that's me, by the way--and try to explain what this thing where apparently demons live is all about." Demons, right, still not convinced they're just really awful aliens, but hey, he's not convinced magic isn't just technology these people don't understand yet, either.

[serannas]

His question does pose a challenge on just how to explain the Fade to a person not of this world. She tries to remember what she learned of it when she was young, but that's been so long ago that she really can't recall.

"It's a place that exists alongside this world, but ordinarily, you can't see it. There is a barrier between the two. Spirits and demons dwell there, and with these rifts opening up, they're falling physically into our world. Usually the only way we see the Fade is when we dream. That is when mages are most vulnerable to the temptations of demons, because they can speak to us in our dreams."

[motherfucking_ghost]

"So it's like a spirit realm. World. Thing." He makes an overlapping motion with his hands. "Like they're ghosts, right? They exist here at the same time but there's just enough of a barrier that the two worlds don't interact except under specific circumstances?" NOT THAT HE WOULD KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT GHOSTS AT ALL. "Like when you're not quite here, liiiike dreaming. Or something happens to blend the realities. Kind of."

[serannas]

"Yes, that's one way to describe it. They should stay separate, but these rifts are opening up and allowing the Fade to touch this world." And the rifts must be reaching beyond too, in order to bring these rifters here from other worlds.

"It's a little hard to believe unless you've seen it yourself, as I know you would have, seeing how you arrived."

[motherfucking_ghost]

"I was..." He starts, and stops again, considering how to describe things. "Not asleep so much as..." Dead? Maybe he was dead. Maybe he actually died and something decided to give him another chance in another world. What bullshit.

"Between? Kind of? Kind of like when you dream of falling. I mean, it felt kind of like a dream right up until I hit the water. And it was fucking awful and cold and slimy and I'm pretty sure I swallowed some bog water, and there were fucking zombies, and that is not the best way to say hi to a new place."

[serannas]

While she's not exactly sure what zombies are, she can guess he means the corpses, or knows something like them where he's from.

"Definitely not. At least you're here now. Skyhold is much better than the Mire."

[motherfucking_ghost]

"I should maybe look at some maps." What's this? Him actually expressing giving even a small amount of fuck about the things around him? Shh, don't tell anyone. "Like...instead of asking everyone annoying-as-fuck questions about what other places are around, I guess I could always read about them. See what's outside of Skyhold. Besides bogs. And snow."

[serannas]

"Skyhold has a wonderful library, and I know for a fact there are plenty of maps there." Because she herself is interested in learning just where all these places are in relation to one another. She never knew where Neverra was before looking it up, or Rivain. It's helpful to see where the big cities are too, and whether they're along a river or the sea, or a trade road.

"Do you know where the library is?"

[motherfucking_ghost]

"I think I might've passed by it once or twice? I didn't really linger." Cuz he's not a nerd. He raises an eyebrow, smirking just a little, because this is kind of cute. "Is this you offering to show me around and be my study buddy?"

[serannas]

"It might be," she replies, smiling back. Really, she wants to help the rifters in any way she can. They didn't ask to be dropped into this situation, and she knows if it was her, she would be grateful for any kind of help or kindness that others were willing to give her.

"There's still more for me to learn. We could learn together, if you wanted."

[motherfucking_ghost]

Pretty friendly lithe elf-y girl wants to be study buddies with him. Calm down, don't drool, don't act like a dog. Try not to, anyway.

"I don't have anything else planned for today. I'm not exactly busy at work these days."

[serannas]

"You rifters do have plenty of free time. Why don't we go up now?" She beckons towards the door of the kitchen that leads into the lower level of Skyhold.

[motherfucking_ghost]

"Hey, I'm not complaining. Beats some of the stuff I was doing back where I was." Like maybe-dying! That sucks. He hops up, dusting any crumbs off himself and follows. "Guess maybe getting paid would be nice, though. If I want anything."