Into the DANGER ZONE

[faderifting]

WHO: All Rifters + the 7 natives who signed up
WHAT: Searching the ruins of Haven for survivors, an Inquisition crew finds something strange. And demons. It's kind of scary that the demons aren't the strange thing.
WHEN: Third week of Harvestmere, 9:41
WHERE: Haven
NOTES: We've broken rifters and rescuers (or "rescuers") into two groups. This log has an arrival comment for each group--you can start smaller subthreads beneath those rather than try to have an eight- or nine-person log, just incorporate surrounding chaos/fighting--and a third top-level set for the whole group's journey back to Skyhold

You were asleep-- deeply or fitfully, for the last time or just resting your eyes for a moment-- and then you were not. And wherever you were was not, anymore, replaced by nothing but the sensation of falling, tumbling into endless, bottomless nothing. If this were still a dream, you would wake before you hit the ground. You can't die in a dream, they say. In some worlds.

But there's no waking here, just a flare of green-white light and a jarring impact, barely softened by snow that lies a foot deep with an icy crust that cracks beneath the force of your landing. The wind is biting cold, the sun is bright, and you are not alone. Others thud to the ground nearby, as bewildered as you, and others run up who look no less confused for having their feet beneath them.

You are also not as you were: in the palm of your left hand there glows a narrow splinter of light the same sickly green as whatever brought you here. It aches, a bone-deep pain that gnaws even through all the distractions. Like that you're being attacked by monsters, some tall, spindly stick-things with too many eyes, some hunched and hooded with no eyes at all.

Welcome to Thedas!

Comments

[slipshot]

"I haven't seen any fish," Gavin said, from somewhere off to Cole's side as he looked at the strange young man. Something about him was familiar, as if Gavin had once seen him in a dream, or something. But no - that was ridiculous. He'd never seen him in his life.

"Sorry, I thought I'd introduced myself to everyone, but I guess we haven't met. I'm Gavin. You're with the Inquisition, too?" Why else would he be here? It might have bothered him, a bit, but for some reason it just seemed natural that the human would be there, and just as natural that for whatever reason, Gavin didn't know him at all.

[colecomfort]

Cole offered him a smile. It was warm, if a little bit sad.

"You still don't remember. Hello, Gavin. I'm Cole."

[slipshot]

A frown almost flickered - as if recognition was just beyond him, but then he simply offered a sheepish smile.

"Sorry. Normally I'm not so forgetful, I guess. It's nice to meet you, anyway - again, as the case may apparently be!" He laughed at that, even though something in the back of his mind was still bugging him about it.

"Are you hungry at all? I snagged a few cookies before we left - they always seem to make the rations go down easier."

[colecomfort]

"Crumbs melting into sweet against the salt... It's good that you brought them along. But I'm not hungry." Which was true. Which was always true. Cole used to wonder why he never felt hungry — now, it was just part of what he was.

[slipshot]

Gavin smiles, something between surprise and fondness.

"Crumbs melting into sweet against the salt," He repeats to himself. "I like that. You have a beautiful way with words, Cole. Even if they make me incredibly hungry," He added in a teasing tone, fetching out a cookie for himself, and nibbling on it. Yes. The description had been perfectly accurate, and it makes his smile widen. "You don't mind if I steal that for a story some time, do you?"

[colecomfort]

In response, Cole simply shakes his head. He enjoys listening to Gavin's stories, and he knows Gavin enjoys telling them. If Cole can help by adding to them, so much the better.

[slipshot]

"It reminds me of one, actually," Gavin said thoughtfully. "About a Fereldan woman that used to leave pies on her window sill... Creators, Cole, you've never smelled anything so sweet, I promise you, but didn't everyone in the valley know it! She used to have to smack thieving hands with a rolling pin at least three times daily."

He smiled to himself, but his mind quickly wandered from pies to good smells to good sights and then finally back onto Galadriel, whom he'd had a hard time not thinking about for the last several hours.

"Did you - did you see the people that came out of the rift?" He asked, glancing back towards where most of them were marching. "What do you think about them?"

[colecomfort]

Cole's head tilted curiously when Gavin's thoughts turned to the elf lady. He'd noticed her, too — brighter than the others, radiating wisdom and kindness and power. He'd been apprehensive about approaching her, more out of respect than fear.

But Gavin was asking about the group.

"They're shards. Broken from where they should be. They belong here, for now, but they didn't before. I don't know if we can put them back."

[slipshot]

"Shards..." Gavin murmured thoughtfully, his brows pulling down as he considered it. "You really do have a way with words, Cole. That's exactly what they feel like. I ah - I talked to one, a little," He added, the flush tinting his ears red before he could help it.

"She told me where she came from, but I'd never heard of it in my life, and it didn't - she didn't even know what the Fade was. Can there really be places like that? Somewhere beyond the Fade?"

[colecomfort]

"I suppose there have to be." It was news to him, too, but also, it made sense. Simple as that. "They're not from the Fade, or Thedas. So it has to be somewhere else."

[slipshot]

It was a bizarre thought, and had he been sharing it with someone else he probably would have then laughed, or scoffed, but something about Cole's even, quiet voice made it seem more plausible than he really wanted to believe.

"... I want to say that makes sense, but it doesn't. It also makes the most sense out of anything I can think of." He sighed, rubbing his head. "Why is the fade so confusing? I don't see how any of these mages or scholars can make sense of it."