faderift | OPEN: turn off the lights and I'll glow

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OPEN: turn off the lights and I'll glow

WHO: New rifters & characters in Emprise du Lion
WHAT: More people falling on ice than usual, this time with demons, templars, and bonus nighttime
WHEN: Guardian 23
WHERE: Emprise du Lion
NOTES: This month, the arrival log is open to all.

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 onto freezing stone or ice that is twice as cold and just as hard. When your breath returns and the light's after-image fades from your eyes you will find yourself beneath a dark sky, a full moon straining to be seen through intermittent clouds, and a second moon low on the horizon. Its light reflects off snow to add an eerie ambient glow to the darkness, made stranger by the sickly green tint added by the fluttery menacing shape of the rift hanging in mid-air. Be careful getting up: you are at the edge of a cliff, what was once a waterfall now frozen solid in a massive curling sheet of icicles. The drop to the bottom is several stories, surely a deadly fall even without the huge humps and spikes of ice and snow that litter the ground where splash and spray were petrified.

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 the fact 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. Some are entirely different but perhaps more monstrous for it: men and women in heavy, gleaming armor, all of them with chunks of red crystal protruding out in a way you soon realize indicates it is actually growing out of their skin. Their eyes are a dull red, hollow and empty, and they attack with a single-minded determination.

Luckily, you are not on your own. Around you others are waking up, equally confused, with the same green lights flaring from their hands. There is stuff scattered about, like the contents of someone's life exploded through the rift with them: a picnic table and benches upended, metal camp furniture flung about, clothes and utensils, bits of wood and canvas and mattress littering the ground. Even better, you are not far from a path leading toward an Inquisition camp, and noise travels far in this terrain, echoing up canyons and off cliffsides, carried by the chill night wind. Help is on its way; just last until it arrives.

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"Magic bean?" Emma honestly has no idea what Red is talking about. The last time she saw a magic bean, she was told it was the very last and she was handing it to a pirate to get them all to Neverland. To say the least, Ruby shouldn't have any. They probably don't have time to dwell on that, not with the chaos going on around them. Enough chaos that she almost misses the wince in Red's jaw.

Apparently, even as a dark one, she's a hell of a lie detector. Maybe Ruby isn't lying out loud, but pretending she's not hurt when she is? That's a lie of some kind, isn't it? "You're hurt," Emma notes, and it's not a question, just a statement. She can fix that, she wants to, even — she'd healed her mother, she could help Ruby, too, it'd be easy —

She shakes the thoughts off, because even if she can help her friend, she can't do it right now. Not when it's so dangerous. "Let's get somewhere that isn't right next to an icy cliff," she suggests, though... she doesn't have a really strong idea of where that might be. In the end she sort of just picks a direction and heads that way, one hand still wrapped around Ruby's wrist to make sure she follows.

"Yeah, uh." It feels so selfish, in retrospect. She sort of wonders how Snow didn't call it out as selfish in the first place, why she didn't suggest they use it to grow another crop again, instead of Ruby taking it for herself. "When we didn't have our memories, I was helping Tiny try to restore the bean field. See if we could salvage anything to get everyone back to the forest, you know? I--" A little frown. "I just wanted to find other wolves." I didn't want to be alone any more, she means. "It already seems kind of stupid, in retrospect."

Used the magic bean, and so far they've both been attacked by monsters, and Emma fell off a cliff. Not exactly starting things off on a high note. There's something like an apology stitched into her tone. Screwing things up with flair for as long as she can remember: Red, Ruby and the Wolf.

And even if she's not a wolf, Emma's always had good instincts, been observant. Red nods, eases herself up out of the snow, and offers Emma her hand. "This way. Cloak and high ground."

Emma doesn't really know what to say, which hangs between them uncomfortably. She didn't know they'd managed to grow any more magic beans, last she'd heard it was impossible. A part of her wonders if her parents are trying to get back to the forest again, and keeping it from her this time. She doesn't want to think like that, she doesn't even have time for the same old insecurities to creep up her spine, yet they linger like bloodstains under skin. Nothing can chase them away.

She understands the feeling of not wanting to be alone. If anyone can understand that, it's Emma. She wishes Ruby would have said goodbye, that she hadn't felt alone in the first place, it's just a conversation they can't have right now. It's not Ruby's fault that she's here, there had not been any magic beans involved in her turning into the dark one. Which means something else is going on here, and she doesn't know what.

Emma hesitates for a moment before accepting the hand, picking through the snow with surprisingly little resistance for what she is (or, isn't) wearing. It's cold and she knows that, but it doesn't bother her as much as it should. What she's wearing might hint to Ruby something is up before Emma actually admits to it; she's not known for her fondness for sack dresses, ratty cloaks and damp hair. "What are these things?" And why were they attacking?

"Demons, apparently. Something to do with the creepy green holes in the air."

That much she'd managed to pick up. This... okay, this ensemble really isn't very Emma, but given that there were some clothes transformations last time she arrived in the forest, she's not too concerned just yet. The time will come, and when that time comes she is going to reprimand herself all the more harshly. For now, Ruby smiles that bright, lopsided smile of hers, and rubs her hands up Emma's arms like it'll heat her up.

"Come on. We better get you something a little warmer. If you get pneumonia here, Snow will kick my ass." Conspiratorial, more than anything else. Even so, they should probably have a plan, and Ruby doesn't know if they should try to move until they find somewhere good to sleep, with warm rooms and maybe even beds, orrrr if her burns are going to protest before they make it that far. Or if Emma will protest her burns before they make it that far, which seems a legitimate possibility.

"This isn't somewhere I've been before, but we can figure this out. Maybe I can take a second shot at being your deputy."

"Warmer would be good." She's frankly not as cold as someone barefoot in snow should be (she's pretty sure Ruby hasn't noticed that, and good, because that would probably make her feel bad). Still that doesn't mean she's loving the sharp winter chill, either. She doesn't comment on Mary Margaret. She doesn't know what to say on that front right about now.

Emma is going to protest her burns before they get that far. She probably should ignore it, but the fact she can see the pain in even simple movements means she won't be able to let it go. Besides, what's the harm if she uses her magic and not the darkness? She had the ability to heal already. She can help Ruby, and she will, once they're in the clear enough that they don't need to risk getting hurt all over again.

"I don't recognize it, either," Emma notes, but she probably wouldn't recognize much of the Enchanted Forest, barring a few glaringly familiar landmarks that Ruby would recognize, too. She gives a weak smile and nods. "Yeah. You were a pretty good deputy, you know." Though sometimes Emma wishes she could switch jobs and just work at Granny's, too. There's no day off for a savior.

As they trudge through the snow, Red is distracted with looking ahead, listening, smelling, making sure they aren't about to be ambushed. If she were paying more attention to Emma than to that, she might be in a better position to get upset about the shoe thing. Their path leads them up a slight incline, towards a rocky outcrop and a cluster of trees, where her cloak is lying.

"Here we go," she starts, bending to pick it up and having to exhale slowly as she straightens back up, body protesting the motion with a searing sting that has left her temporarily silent, the red skin across her back livid and sore. Somehow she manages to work a smile back on before she turns back to Emma, dropping the cloak around her friend's shoulders and working on the clasp as she talks. "This'll keep you warm."

Smile brightening just a little at the compliment, Red shakes her head. "Even when I nearly knocked you over in the forest?"

Satisfied that the cloak isn't going anywhere, her gaze drops, and-- wait. Forget any response she was going to make about the forest.

"Emma... Have you seriously been barefoot in the snow all this time?" And she didn't say anything? And Ruby didn't notice?

"Well there's always room for improvement." Ruby had that stop stock still like a dog that hears something in the yard thing down, even before she remembered she was a werewolf. Sadly Emma didn't have the fastest reflexes... ever, so she hadn't quite managed to stop that quickly. Maybe she'd just need to learn to keep the brunette at a wide berth, so they didn't topple into each other like bowling pins.

She looks passingly guilty about the shoe comment, and makes a point of not looking Red in the eye for a few minutes. "Well, what were you going to do about it?" Emma doesn't see a spare pair of hiking boots on that... tight corset skirt number Red is working. She doesn't argue about the cloak because how can she when she's barefoot, but she's perfectly honest when she admits, "I'm not really that cold." It's probably the curse talking, Dark Ones can't be hurt and can't die so it was likely they couldn't get frostbite either.

Moving on. Right? Because it was going to be that simple because Emma demanded it to be that simple. "Now let me see your back." It's a tone that borders no arguments, one cultivated from plenty of time as a sheriff and as a mother.

Her brows raise approximately to the treetops. Or, well, they nudge a little closer to her hairline, and she's already bending down to unlace her boots, albeit a little slowly and cautiously.

"I'm a wolf, remember? I can change, and my fur keeps me plenty warm." Actually, and she mumbles the next part a little, "maybe we can get to a town faster that way."

She's not exactly excited about having someone atop her back in its current state, and it's not a long term solution, but she doesn't need that. She needs something she can work with to get them both warm and comfortable and not... stranded in the middle of nowhere.

"How would you feel about wolfback riding?" Red starts, completely ignoring Emma's claim that she's not cold because that's... dumb. And impossible. Emma can't out-stubborn hypothermia, impressive though that stubbornness might be.

From her place crouched in the snow, pulling off a boot, she looks up. "What are you gonna do about it?" she mimics, so helpfully, mouth quirked in a slightly incredulous smile.

"We can... what now?" Emma isn't quite sure what that mutter is, but the last thing she'd assume was that she can ride on a wolf. Which is exactly what it turns out to be. "Are you serious?" She notes dryly, because that... well she saw how big her wolf form had been, Red was an utterly massive wolf. Still probably not big enough to carry a person.

At least, despite Ruby's mocking, Emma has an answer for her. One that isn't oh duh you can just ride me (wow, how awkward that phrasing was... note to self, never put it that way ever again). "I can heal you." There's a new confidence there, with her magic, that Ruby might not be used to. She was still testing the waters when they were trying to defeat Zelena. Know, she knows a great deal more.

"I'm not saying I can draw a carriage or that I'm going to be your steed of choice, but I've done it before. Short bursts, at least, but it'll get us going a lot faster than both of us trying to haul our way through the snow." Her smile is somewhere between cheeky and optimistic. "Otherwise, I'm going to give you a piggyback, or you're wearing my boots and I'll probably be a wolf, anyway. It's your call."

Probably shouldn't sound so chipper and playful in these circumstances, but they kind of need all the cheer they can get. Emma looks exhausted. And she has no shoes in the snow, that's going to leave anyone kind of down.

Red's mouth falls open, just a little. And she closes it. Then she opens it to make a really smart comeback comment, and then just... closes it again without saying anything. Eventually she does manage a, "Huh," head canted like a confused puppy.

The confidence is good. It's new. The general... magical certainty is new. Didn't Emma lose her powers? God, everything is just so... convoluted. Always. She needs to get her friends microchipped to keep up with their lives.

"Okay," Red finally allows, reaching behind herself to start loosening her bodice. While sitting in the snow. Undressing in the snow is not exactly her favourite plan right now, but it's about all she's got to work with, until she stops short. "Do you need to see it?"

Or did she just start undoing her clothes totally unnecessarily, because that would be so awkward.

Emma does not look like she's sure about this wolfback thing. At least it's a distracting enough thought that she's not lost in the whispers that want her attention. In fact, she hasn't been lost like she was upon first arrival since they'd defeated the creature trying to throw her off a cliff and escaped the fray of the battleground. Apparently keeping her mind and her body busy was proving good at keeping the dark at bay.

She moves closer to Ruby, bare feet leaving clear impressions in the snow as she does. Maybe it's not that surprising Red doesn't know she's made progress with her magic, considering she's apparently used a magic bean to go back to the Enchanted Forest. Or had meant to. Did that mean they were from different times as well as places? Emma was going to have to worry about that later.

"Yeah, but I won't touch it. Don't worry." Emma carefully runs her fingers under the curtain of hair and across the nape of Ruby's neck — she can't do much if they're cold, but they're not as bad as they could be — before twisting her hand to take the mass of dark hair into her grip and curling it around her wrist, just to get it out of the way and over a pale shoulder.

"Shit, Ruby. How did this happen?" It's a nasty burn, probably a bit of damage from impact on the ground, too. She doesn't wait for an answer, bringing her hand close to the slant of Red's back before she closes her eyes. She remembers that feeling she used to heal Mary Margaret, the warmth and desire to protect and help. It leaks out of her easily, washes over like a wave, and for a moment it feels wonderful... before she can feel the insidious creep of darkness just underneath. Like a dark stain hidden behind layers of blankets, yet once it starts it moves so quickly—

The magic stops quickly and she pulls her palm back like it burns, a sudden weight of weariness weighing her down. The thrill of how wonderful it felt is quickly eclipsed by the panic of even her birth-given magic being tainted by her curse. At least, when she opens her eyes, Ruby's back seems to be more or less healed. "Just be careful with it, all right?"

She's still shrugging her blouse off as Emma approaches, holding it and her bodice against her chest, across cross so they are holding the opposite shoulder as she waits. The contact almost makes her jump a little, more from the sensitivity of her skin than from the coolness of Emma's hands, and she glances over her shoulder (or, rather, almost does, gaze not quite making it in Emma's direction.)

"Okay. I was more worried about unnecessary nudity," Ruby jokes, as Emma moves her hair out of the way.

Of course, the question has her making that face. You know, the awkward right that thing I shouldn't have done face that really just looks like the guiltiest grin of all time, and a little painful to boot. "I may or may not have gotten into a fight with a monster that looked The Blob but angry? And... on fire. With fire magic attacks."

And that's-- that's magic. It's cool and soothing, a balm washing over her skin and taking the painful heat out of it (which was only aggravated by the biting cold), and the relief makes her sigh contently. The abrupt stop is a surprise, but she can't see Emma's reaction. When she looks around, Red's smile is all gratitude. "Thank you. That feels so much better." Maybe not perfect, but a lot better, and she doesn't have to move nearly so gingerly to get her shirt and the bodice back on.

"Yeah, you were pretty game on about taking your clothes off in a snowy plane." That's mild teasing, and not judgmental in the slightest. Ruby knows better than anybody that Emma isn't very shy when it comes to necessity. She's pretty sure that the poor girl saw her shirtless or pantsless or maybe both on different occasions during the periods she stayed at the B&B. Then again, it wasn't freezing cold at the time... Still, it was just an attempt to distract from the possible discomfort.

Emma could hardly imagine what Red must have been dealing with, but that description is oddly hilarious considering the kind of injury it left behind. "Burning angry flubber, huh?" She's gonna have to keep her eye out for those, because... well, she'd rather not check and see if she can be burned or not. She's perfectly fine not knowing the answer to that.

"Of course." It's hard to feel good about helping her friend when half of her is trapped in the thrall of the magic and the panic of the darkness, creeping up her spine. Emma gives her a hollow smile and moves to kneel in the snow. It looks like she's getting ready to accept the boots, but honestly? She needs to rest a minute. "I'll take the boots but I'll walk myself. You shouldn't carry anyone on a back I just had to put back together." It's an no-nonsense decree, and even if she's starting to feel rather exhausted, she's not going to take no for an answer. No wolfback rides for her today.

Edited 2016-02-26 11:18 (UTC)

"Excuse you, I was trying to make things easier for you," Ruby retorts, faux wounded, tossing one of her boots to Emma with a little excess sass. "Besides, I've gotta keep that Storybrooke reputation alive and well somehow, right?"

It-- it was easier to laugh about the way people looked and leered and their entire attitude towards Ruby, generally, than it was to think about it seriously. It was easier than remembering the that lost young woman, and then the echoes of the forest that the mockery bought with it. You're a red woman, the girls had said. We should call you Red.

Despite herself, Red huffs a quiet laugh. "Really angry. Definitely less cute than flubber."

When Ruby has finally worked off the second boot, she hands it over with less sass and a more care than that first one. "Deal. I'll go wolfy, maybe scout ahead a little so we know what way we want to go, and..." She looks down at her clothes, and then to Emma and her sadness sack. "Do you need some more layers?"

Maybe the skirt? Maybe... anything? "We're going to get you some more clothes." This is not the girls' shopping adventure she would ever have anticipated.

"Do you? I always thought that reputation was kind of full of shit." Short, sweet, and to the point: classic Emma Swan. Oh, she remembers how Ruby dressed at the beginning of her stay in Storybrooke. Hotpants, fishnets, eyeliner practically to the sky. She also remembers the discomfort on her face when Whale had skeeved on her. Not exactly the picture of a man-eater. Emma doesn't think dressing flashy means much of anything. It had seemed more of an attempt to take power into her own hands when she didn't have much to hold onto than anything else. Emma understood that better than anyone.

"I miss the days when I would have thought that sounded insane," Emma sighed. Those days were years behind her, now. At this point she could be incredulous, but it was hard to have a leg to stand on when it came to things not existing. What didn't exist, at this rate? Her skepticism had died an uncomfortable, horrible death, a long time ago. Smothered by unicorns and goblins, probably.

Emma is a little slow to start pulling the boots on, but if Ruby is looking at her feet, they aren't purple or blue or any other terrible color that might hint at frostbite. She nods at the idea Red will scout ahead, though there's honestly not too much that can hurt her right about now. A little distance between them sounds fine when she is so suddenly weary, she doesn't want Ruby to feel bad about anything. "Okay. I'll follow your tracks." As weird as that was to say, it sounded easy enough.

And on the more clothes front: "I'll take anything. Even a corset." If only Killian could have heard her say that, he'd never have let her hear the end of it. That makes her expression shift a little sad, maybe more than a little. She ducks her head to focus on getting the boots on her feet and insists without looking, "Go on. I'll follow you when I get these on." Smart or not, she needs a little bit of time alone.

That makes her freeze up. And it shouldn't, because it's true. She liked the nice parts, the parts that felt like she had control and was interesting. She liked feeling like a person that other people wanted to know. Unfortunately Emma has that habit of hitting the nail on the head, finding the crack in the glass and pressing on it, but it makes Ruby smiles just a fraction.

"Yeah, well. Granny had fun with it, at least. Gotta keep the older generation entertained, right?"

Ruby liked being Ruby, the clothes and the look and the make up, she liked all of it. She hated that it made people think they could control her or like she was some thing. Flirting with people, talking to them and being friendly, it was like... looking at possibilities and adventure, before she inevitably pulled away. Most of the time, the thing that defined Ruby was the desperate want of freedom. Sometimes Red felt like Ruby Lucas had been a lot of big talk and big dreams and what sometimes felt like an incapacitating amount of fear.

"I'm not sure a corset is something you want to learn to get used to while hiking around," she advises with a gently teasing tone. Still, Emma has her cloak and her boots, and Ruby starts to peel off her gloves when something has her stopping short. A glowing, blistering green light cutting from just above her left thumb, across her palm and to her wrist. Red stares at it for a moment, mouth opening and closing, before she jerks the glove back on, swallows thickly, and looks towards the sky.

This couldn't be simple, could it? Instead she's pulling off her belt with the dagger and setting that down beside Emma, just in case.

"I'll scratch the bark off the trees, just in case. But I'm pretty sure if we get split up, I can track you down."

She notices the pause, but can't quite pin down what the pause means. She doesn't answer Granny having fun with it, because she hopes that woman was the curse talking through, and that the real article wouldn't judge a girl by the length of her shorts. Especially not her granddaughter.

"I've hiked in skinny jeans, it can't be that much worse." So she's known for not always picking the most sensible hiking clothes, sue her. Ruby is right that she'd rather not hike in a corset, but she'll figure it out if that's the only option she's got other than a sack. At least as she tucks the red brocade in tighter, it's hard to see the mediocre slip she's got on.

Red isn't the only one wearing a spare flash in her palm. Out of sight, out of mind; not even out of sight, Emma just hasn't had the spare brainpower to think about it. The darkness, the magic flooding her, being transplanted in a new place, it had all taken over. The green light in her palm will freak her out later, no doubt. She didn't really need anything else to worry about, a green light in her palm was probably going to go over great.

"Okay. I'll keep an eye out for them." She isn't exactly excited about the idea of using a dagger but it's better than using magic, at least while she's uncertain about what will happen when she does. "Don't worry about me, Ruby." She's strong all on her own, even when she's not magically invulnerable. With that tacked on there's really not too much to worry about.

"Skinny jeans, right." Oddly, she thinks she will probably start missing those at some point, once the skirt-nostalgia has worn off a little. "Maybe if we're lucky we'll find a Ye Olde Hot Topic to service all our needs."

It's a dumb comment, yeah, but what do they need right now if not something stupid to laugh at?

And with that need for a laugh and lightness in mind... Well, that comment just gets a look, Red stopping to catch Emma's gaze for a second. "Hey. You're my friend. I'm going to worry about you," she says with a bit of a smile, before handing over the bodice and the outer layers of her skirt, leaving her pretty much down to underwear and gloves in the snow, nice. Ruby shivers a little, wonders how the hell Emma's been so fine about so few layers, and rolls her shoulders. "Okay. Yell if you need me."

She starts walking up the slope, moving into a run. Red's barely gone three paces when it's a heavy paw hitting the snow instead of bare feet, and the eyes that look back at Emma are glow gold, the heat of her breath fogging the air. The Wolf raises its nose, sniffs the air, and starts its ascent up the hill.

If Emma had realized Ruby was determined to basically leave her with every stitch of clothing she had, she might have protested sooner. She appreciated the boots and was all right with the cloak but the dress was probably not going to do her any good when Ruby was not a wolf again.

At least she'll carry them for her, so they don't both end up mostly naked in the snow. Hopefully Ruby comes back with shoes... Emma doesn't want to try poofing some, not when everything is so uncertain with her magic.

Watching her change is something else, though. Despite seeing the wolf and seeing the human, she hadn't seen the transition until now. Her mouth gapes open a little — apparently, even after everything she's seen, that's a new one. It's beautiful and terrifying and amazing all at once. "Sure," she says in a sigh as the wolf bounds away.

She won't end up yelling. Even if it would have been better if she had.

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OPEN: turn off the lights and I'll glow

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