OPEN: turn off the lights and I'll glow

[faderifting]

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.

Comments

[wontforgetyou]

Admittedly, Jamie didn't much like the notion of a retreat, either, and if he'd been by himself he wouldn't have cared so much about finding someplace that was a wee bit safer. He would stay and fight. But for all that he was slowly getting used to the notion that women were perfectly capable of fighting, years of having been brought up and taught the opposite meant that right now he was more concerned about getting her somewhere safe. Or at least somewhere where they wouldn't wind up being completely cut off from everyone else, thanks to having a cliff at their back.

He pursed his lips for a moment, then pointed over towards a shadow, darker then their surroundings, but one that was edged with chunks of snow-covered rock that looked as though they were framing something rather than simply jutting out, giving the impression of a larger space just beyond them.

"Over there. There's all sorts of crevices around here that cut through the rock and you can get other places. It's hard to tell from here, but it could be one of those. And if not we'll be out of line of sight of anyone else coming in from the other way. Should buy us some time to come up with a plan if it doesn't go through after all."

[bookish_lioness]

Hermione was pragmatic enough that the thought of having to run and hide, while a little insulting, wasn’t absolutely impossible. And with her magic being what it was right now, it was best to get herself out of this situation before she hurt herself or someone else. And if he was willing to help her with that, all the better.

It was hard to distinguish just where he was pointing off towards, but she eventually saw enough to make out a crevice as a possible hiding place. If she were more familiar with him, she would have taken his hand, but propriety has a way of winning out for her in even the most dire situations. Instead, she only nodded, figuring that he would at least be able to cover them as they made a break for it.

“Let’s go, then,” she said, already moving in that direction and hoping no one and nothing managed to intercept them on the way.

[wontforgetyou]

"Aye, lets."

For a moment Jamie contemplated taking her hand himself, but it wasn't all that far to the crevice, and as much as he was used to moving while hanging on to someone, he had no idea if that would be something that would bother her. So unless something dire happened where they had to make a run for it, it was probably better to let that be for now. Besides, meant that he could fall into a position where he'd be able to react should anything come their way.

It was a place he was glad to be, especially when he caught sight of that glimpse of red again. This time it didn't move away, but started to head in their direction, the form of the Red Templar it belonged to all too easily visible now. There only seemed to be the one, but if he wasn't taken down quickly, there'd likely be more - and Jamie stopped where he was, bringing his sword up as he readied himself for another fight.

"Go! I'll soon sort this fellow out."

[bookish_lioness]

Hermione stopped when she realized he was no longer moving with her, and it took her a moment to figure out just why that was. Oh. One of those red things again. She'd thought Death Eaters had been frightening on their own, but at least they'd still looked human. Even Voldemort had looked more human than whatever this was, shambling towards them as they tried to make it to cover.

Torn, Hermione looked from the thing that was approaching them to the man who was trying to protect her. While her first instinct told her to stand firm and insist on fighting this together, she knew perfectly well that her wand was damaged, meaning that she was more likely to hurt rather than help. And without her magic, she wasn't exactly much of a fighter. Being able to throw an occasional, self-righteous punch didn't really mean that she could take on that thing in hand-to-hand combat and survive.

So as much as she absolutely hated it, she decided that she'd have to fall back for now, at least until she could figure out a way to repair or replace her wand. "Be careful," she told him before quickly making her way to the safety of that crevice. Once there, she immediately turned to watch him, making sure that he was perfectly capable of handling himself. If not... well, she'd have to try and do something decent with her magic, risky though it might be.

[wontforgetyou]

The look that he sent her way was quick, but meant to be reassuring, as there wasn't much time for anything else. Once she started to move, he did as well, bringing his sword up and rushing towards the Red Templar with another battle cry, using it both to focus himself and focus attention on him rather than anyone making their way to safety in the shadows.

That part of things worked well enough, and for awhile it seemed that things were going well, too. Both of them were fighting with just a sword and not a shield, and even though the Red Templar seemed unnaturally fast, Jamie was still able to use his own experience to avoid most the blows that were being sent his way, the light armor he was wearing over his own clothing helping to block the rest - or at least soften what got through.

He'd managed to land a hit that sent the Red Templar reeling when the form of a second Red Templar came into view, one of the archers that was only visible at first as a slender figure picking its way over the snow. As he spotted the fight, he stopped and quickly brought his bow up, nocking an arrow to the string and starting to take aim at Jamie, the only opponent he could see.

For the moment, Jamie seemed unaware of the danger, more focused on the Red Templar with the sword rather than his surroundings. But it also meant that the archer was just as open, and not expecting any surprise help from other quarters. A little risk could possibly work out, in this case.

[bookish_lioness]

She'd never been reluctant to use her magic in a fight, largely because the only times she'd ever been in anything remotely like a proper fight, it had been a matter of life and death. And while that certainly seemed to be the case now, what with everybody running around with swords and whatnot, Hermione was left feeling absolutely helpless. Her magic had betrayed her, or at the very least, her wand was being extraordinarily finicky. Waiting for a knight in shining armor to deliver her from danger was not how she was used to doing things.

She watched the fight carefully, though it wasn't until this Red Templar received a hit and fell back a bit that she noticed an archer in the distance, and she tensed up immediately. From where she was, any attempt to get at the archer would have to go through the young man that had helped her, and she didn't know for sure that it wouldn't backfire awfully.

So she was forced to move, leaving the crevice to be able to angle a clear path for herself. Working quickly, she doubted she'd be able to outmaneuver an arrow, and so she steeled herself and threw a hurried Protection Charm over towards Jamie; given the carelessness of it, it was likely that both he and his opponent would feel the recoil of it and maybe even be pushed a few steps back. She wouldn't get to see that for herself, though, since she immediately fired a Stunner at the archer just as he released the arrow; it got him square in the chest, but she didn't get to see what happened after that, given that it felt as though the force of her own magic sent her reeling back a bit herself. She just barely managed to keep herself from making a pratfall on the ice, and given how dizzy she now was, she had no idea how she'd managed that much.

[wontforgetyou]

For all that he was from a place where magic simply didn't exist, Jamie had been here long enough that he'd gotten used to the idea that mages were going to cast spells in combat. Most of the ones he'd had direct experience with had been protection spells of some sort, usually in the form of a barrier, so in theory having something similar but different cast on him now shouldn't be a surprise. And if it hadn't been so hurried, maybe it wouldn't have been, but the fact that the charm had been put on him so quickly meant it was all but impossible to ignore when he was suddenly pushed back. Luckily the Red Templar felt it as well, and wound up staggering a few more steps back, creating a gap between the two of them.

The archer, having noticed this, took advantage of the moment to fire his arrow, sending it sailing through the air and towards what he thought was an unprotected opponent. The charm had worked, though, and the arrow wound up bouncing off, clattering to the ground without doing any damage, something Jamie was grateful for. The archer was somewhat less grateful, and started to reach for another arrow, meaning to fire again. Anything that might have come from that was quickly rendered moot, however, as the Stunner hit him full force, dropping him unconscious to the ground in the space of a few heartbeats.

Unfortunately, the Red Templar had noticed this too, and with a snarl he turned towards Hermione, lifting his sword as he started to advance towards her, intending on taking care of what he now saw as the bigger threat. Seeing this, Jamie's eyes widened and he began to move as well - but he wasn't about to do so quietly, because a warning would get to her faster than he could get to the Red Templar.

"Look out!!"

[bookish_lioness]

Things were quickly spinning out of Hermione's control - as though they'd ever been in her control - which left her to decide that she hated this place, wherever it was, and she hated these red soldiers, whatever they were. And she wasn't one to hate often.

The world was still spinning quite a bit around her, but she managed to shake herself out of it as she regained her footing. Of course, she sort of wished she still didn't have a good sense of focus, seeing as how the last thing she wanted to see what that very large (compared to her) and very strong (definitely compared to her) Red Templar quickly moving towards her. Oh. What was that bit about her not needing a knight in shining armor?

She tried staggering back a few steps, scarcely managing to glance back to make sure she wasn't about to topple off the cliff. There were precious few spells she felt comfortable with now, especially since Jamie was right behind the creature coming for her and she didn't want to risk him getting caught up in a wayward spell. So she did the safest thing she could do, which was go with another Shield Charm, only to find that holding it up took far more energy than it really should have. And the fear pumping through her veins certainly didn't help.

When the Red Templar was finally close enough to attack, it struck out at her, only to be repelled by the invisible barrier. Hermione felt it, though, an odd, numb sort of blow that knocked her to the ground with a startled cry, painless but still frightening because that shouldn't have happened. Her magic was growing weaker by the second, and rather than wait around to see if the second hit would actually hurt, she opted to start crawling away, using the ice to help give her a bit of traction. It might as well be useful beyond just helping her freeze to death, right?

[wontforgetyou]

As for Jamie, he kept running, closing the gap that had been opened moments earlier. He wasn't sure if her getting knocked to the ground was supposed to be part of her spell or not, but he wasn't about to sit around and wait to find out. If something was wrong, there was no way of knowing what would happen if she was attacked again. She could get hurt - or worse - and he'd never be able to live with himself if that happened.

This time, though, he was close enough to do something. With a cry, he launched himself at the Red Templar, taking advantage of the fact it'd just been pushed back by the barrier and was ever so slightly off balance. While Jamie may not have been heavily armored, he had momentum on his side, and when his full weight hit the Red Templar at speed, it proved to be enough to knock the wind out of it and send the creature sprawling. The sword it held went flying, skittering across the ice and well away from the fight - and Jamie took advantage of that as well. The struggle that followed was fairly brief, and when it was done the Red Templar lay still, showing no signs of moving again.

Jamie, on the other hand, was still moving - and heading towards Hermione, now. There was still a sense of urgency on his end, as he had no idea how long the archer was going to stay out, and as he reached out to try and help her up, his eyes flicked back and forth between her and the Red Templars.

"Come on, we've got to get out of here. Can you stand?"

[bookish_lioness]

Hermione heard a cry behind her, and she immediately turned to look, not wanting it to have ended up being that young man or another potential ally ending up the worse for wear. Granted, she could barely protect herself much less someone else, but that didn't mean she was simply going to stand by when someone was in trouble.

But the skirmish didn't seem to be ending too poorly for anyone but that strange-looking soldier, and soon she was reaching out, taking her new best friend's hand and trying not to rely on it too much as she forced herself up to her feet and staying close to him.

"I'm-... I'm fine. Thank you."

She didn't look fine, especially not as she turned around, wildly seeking out that archer or any other enemies that might have noticed the pair of them on the fringe of the fight.