faderift | you can't handle the truth

WHO: Whoever wants
WHAT: Kickoff of the truth plot!
WHEN: Right now
WHERE: The dining hall
NOTES: Feel free to use this to post open starters with prompts! Or make your own logs. Or create open posts on the network. Do whatever you'd like. No rules just right

If only the cooks had screwed up the soup. The problem is that it's a particularly nice soup today, full of fresh summer herbs, nicely seasoned, and plentiful. And so it's quite likely that you grabbed a bowl - maybe even got a second helping - and so ingested the potion that a devious hand had tipped in there earlier that day.

The effects begin to set in within twenty minutes of ingesting the soup. They may be mild - your tongue stumbling when you go to tell a little white lie...or they might be strong, and you might be overtaken by a sudden hysterical urge to tell deep truths to anyone who might listen. Or perhaps you skipped that soup, and instead, you're surrounded by babbling, confused people who want to tell you their life stories.

The potion's effects will last for up to two days. And they may at times be stronger, and at times weaker. Here's hoping you'll do minimal damage to your reputation in the meantime.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Gela bursts into laughter, and gives a hearty cheer when both things clatter to the ground; they're making a scene, but she doesn't care. She feels much better already. Ellie is treated to a bit of applause before she returns the boot.

"Brilliant." She slips half her foot in, leaves the laces undone for now, "Bet you've never done magic on a shoe before."

Ellie doesn't mind the looks. It's not the first time she's been a goon at the table and it won't be the last. It's good to see Gela smiling; she remembers how she felt when she was new, unsure of anyone around her, jumpy about the people who seemed kind.

"It's a first," she admits with a shrug. "But I've only had it for a couple of years, so. I'm still getting to stuff."

She offers a smile.

"At least it didn't freak you out too bad."

Gela, having returned to her soup, thinks to latch onto what Ellie said to her first rather than last. First seems safer. She slurps her food and says, "It's a new addition? What caused that then?"

She's a little freaked out, maybe... but curious, despite herself, "Never heard of somethin' like that before."

Still a little freaked out for sure. It's fine. She can work with that.

"It's not Thedas magic," she explains. "I'm a Rifter, so I picked it up along the way."

Ellie pauses, a troubled looking coming across her eyes as she tries to figure out how to parse it in a way that makes any fucking sense.

"This isn't the first universe I've fallen into that wasn't mine. I picked it up in the one before this."

And you know, because Gela's already had the magic proved to her, she'll have to believe this part too won't she. It's hard to make sense of it though. She scoops a bit of hair back her from face that was threatening to get in the soup.

After a thoughtful slurp, "I can't say I understand it completely, but- it didn't look like any spell I've ever seen before." She's talking herself through it, justifying the response and the nervousness that lingers to Ellie. "You don't need a stave, for instance."

Maybe it comes from the shard? Her eyes go to it again.

Ellie makes a sound under her breath, because the story always sounds fucking crazy.

"The last world I fell into, I got hit with a shard of magic from a dead god," she explains, the corner of her lips twisting. "Then, another god tested us, and- I don't know. Gave us some of their power too. I still don't get all the details."

The important part:

"I'm not a mage. I can only do a few things. They're just really useful things."

Gela watches wide-eyed through this, nodding, chewing her bread. When she swallows it's to comment, "I don't think that you're lyin', per say, but I don't know how to wrap my head around this bein' the truth either. If that makes sense."

Straightforward, to the point. Like Ellie said: she is not a mage, not one of them, only a rifter, from another world Gela will never know.

Gela sighs, and flashes Ellie a smaller, more subdued version of her smile, "Y'know I was warned about you lot, but you're different in person. More."

Ellie laughs under her breath, something aching deep in her chest.

"I'm... just a girl."

And it's the utter truth, as she sees it. Just her. Just Ellie.

"That you are," Gela replies, approving, her smile returning fully. "You're the second rifter I've ever met, so. Pardon my gettin' used to it all still."

"It's okay."

Ellie grins back, shrugging both shoulders. "Who was the first?"

Must've been something.

Well. She leans a little closer across the table like they're gossiping, "I came and went once while I was still tryin' to sort myself out. I met a rifter that first time, on the boat. He was new too, an' handsome- passed the bar of entry. Very kind. He gave me some good advice when I asked."

A squint across the hall, suddenly, "Haven't seen him around since I got in, or I'd thank him. This place is big."

"Big enough that I haven't met everyone," Ellie admits, but her eyes are glinting at the story. Kinda sounds like Gela has a crush.

"New and handsome. Okay. I'll keep an eye out, send him your way."

Maybe, maybe not, "Appreciated. An' feel free to send anybody handsome my way, in future." At least giving Ellie a silly little grin makes it obvious that she's teasing.

Ellie snorts back, but the smile's real.

"I'm not exactly qualified to figure out who's handsome."

Sorry, Gela.

"Oh? Can the 'smokin' hot women of Riftwatch' not also be handsome?"

"No."

Enlightened, actually.

"You're right."

Gela grins around her spoon. "Food for thought."

Speaking of. She's going to get back to the soup.

you can't handle the truth

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wrap? 😊