faderift | [semi-open] a friendly query

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[semi-open] a friendly query

WHO: Cassandra and rifters/shardbearers
WHAT: Rifter interrogations
WHEN: Following Cassandra's log with Galadriel and the advisors' conversation
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: For planned rifter/shardbearer interrogation threads with Cassandra! If we haven't discussed your character's thread, please drop me a note here or hit me up on Plurk for general (this can be very general) setup/discussion of what you hope the outcome to be. She'll be most interested in talking to rifter mages, but we can swing her interrogating anyone with a shard.

With or without your support, she had said to the Spymaster, and she had meant it. She would have preferred that Leliana understand her position, the necessity of action - but she does not, and dwelling on it will do nothing to change that now. Whether anyone else sees it or not, Cassandra at least recognizes the risk that the shardbearers pose. If nothing else, they must understand who the rifters are, what they are capable of - and what they may do.

There are still plenty who agree with her, who are not as idealistic in this matter as Leliana, and it's not difficult to find soldiers willing to find those of interest and bring them to her, one at a time. She waits until each is seated before she turns to face them, and always begins the same way, whether she recognizes them or not.

"I am Cassandra Pentaghast, and I represent the Inquisition. State your name, and where you come from."

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"Nice to meet you," Ruby replies, though there's a wryness to it. Not unfriendly, not scornful or unhelpful, but she was just escorted here by a couple of very burly men. Sure, she figured someone probably wasn't a fan of her balance-walking along the walls of the ramparts, but-- sometimes she just likes to lean into the wildness in her, a little, and she's pretty sure that's not harming anyone except for maybe Emma via her blood pressure.

"Ruby Lucas," she starts,before canting her head a little, brows furrowing with thoughtfulness rather than concern. "Some people call me 'Red,' though. The 'where I come from' part? That's gonna be a little more tricky. My world is sort of complicated."

And she is running a mental tally of the people who had seen her change into a wolf, and wondering if any of them told.

"I do not doubt it," Cassandra says. Her arms are crossed tight over her chest as she studies this new arrival, unaffected by her attitude. She is used to it, by now, after questioning so many. But she has also found that people tend to reveal more of themselves than they realize when they speak of their homes.

"Try, all the same."

"Oh...kay." This lady is intense. Nice accent. Red watches her carefully, slowly inhaling. Scent and smells could give all sorts of things away, but this time around all she wants is to make sure she's thinking clearly and carefully as she faces down a woman with armour who represents the Inquisition.

"I'm from a place called Misthaven. I grew up in a little village that nobody's ever heard of. It's a world of magic and legends, kind of like this one, in... some ways." A beat, a breath. "Then a Dark Curse was cast by a very desperate woman. Our Queen, actually."

She can't bring herself to call Regina evil. Not any more, not when she has tried so hard. Ruby might not like her and Red might have reasons to hate her, but Snow still loves Regina, David protects her, and Emma and she share a son.

"The curse took us to another world. A world without magic. And in that world, my original world wasn't... real. The people there were the stuff of children's tales and nursery rhymes. So, I am from... the Enchanted Forest in Misthaven and I'm from Storybrooke, in a state called Maine in a country called the United States of America, on a planet called Earth."

Her smile is crooked. "Which one do you want to hear about first?"

Complicated is one word for it, she supposes. Cassandra finds herself momentarily nonplussed by the question. She understands curses, and desperate people. She even understands being taken from one world to another, in a way she would not have before the rifters began appearing. But how can one world not be real?

"I want to hear the truth," she says, and leans forward, eyes narrowing as she tries to discern what she is being told. "Which of your worlds is the true one?"

And I'm trying to give it to you, Ruby might have snapped back (that Granny definitely would have snapped back, though she would have added an if you can swallow your self-importance long enough to listen! onto the end. Granny was helpful, that way.) Instead she slowly exhales, keeping Cassandra fixed with a level gaze, green eyes sharp and focused.

"They're both 'true.' They both exist. I was born in Misthaven, and a curse ripped almost everyone out, took their memories, and put us in a world where we didn't belong. In that world, we didn't know our old lives even belonged to us. We thought they were just silly fairy tales in a kid's book. So-- I was Red, in the Enchanted Forest, and I became Ruby when I was in the new world. And then we got our memories back when the Curse was broken, so now I'm Ruby and Red." And the Wolf, but she's not eager to mention that to Cassandra. "Does that make... any kind of sense?"

"No."

No, it does not, but she also doesn't believe that Ruby is lying. What would be the point, making up something so outrageous as to seem impossible?

She's silent for a moment, trying to rearrange the pieces of the woman's story into something that makes sense, before she finally hazards a guess.

"She...moved you? To another world entirely? Or did she merely change what existed - change - "

Change reality? No, merely is entirely the wrong word. Neither answer is a good one, and she shakes her head, her eyes narrowing. "Who is this Dark Queen? What is she, that she holds such power?"

"Yeah," Ruby agrees, with a sigh and a quiet breath of not-laughter. "Living it was an experience."

Rolling her shoulders and looking up at the ceiling, for a moment, she thinks. "She moved us. It was called the Dark Curse. Honestly, I don't know a lot of the details. You'd need to ask different people and, as far as I know, none of them are here."

She doesn't know how much Emma knows, and she's certainly not going to throw her to the wolves... so to speak.

"Her name is Regina, but she's-- she's different, now. She helps people. She's saved the world, really." She remembers the Second Curse, the one that took them back to the Enchanted Forest. Regina had to lose what was important to her all over again. "I don't like her, just to make that clear. I think she's really trying, though."

After a moment, she adds a quiet murmur, "in the rudest, crankiest way possible."

Cassandra, who could be - who has been - described as both cranky and rude, frowns slightly, peering suspiciously at Ruby. After a moment she decides to ignore it.

"She helps people." She sounds doubtful, still, and then shakes her head. In the end, she has no time to waste in worrying about enemies in different worlds. There are more than enough of them here. "Is she in Thedas? Did she arrive through the rift with you?"

"No." Emphatic, simple. "Definitely not."

A moment of silence follows, and Ruby waits a few seconds longer before leaning forward a little, leaning against her arms, crossed over the table. "Can I ask what all of this is about?"

That's something, at least, and Cassandra looks distinctly relieved as she nods.

She considers Ruby for a moment, debating, and then decides to go with the truth. Well. Part of the truth, in any case.

"It is about you." Perhaps not the most diplomatic way to begin, but. "You, and those who have arrived alongside you through the rifts. If you are to live and work alongside the Inquisition, we must know who you are, and what sort of loyalty we might expect from you."

Me?, she could start, and there's a moment where her eyes widen with concern. Not panic, but definitely reigned-in fear, and eases visibly when Cassandra carries on. Who wouldn't be scared when being told they were being interrogated for being them? But there's more to it, Ruby knows, even if she'd deny it. The Wolf prowls beneath her skin, always reminding her.

"Right now, I'm just a barmaid. Sometimes I go hunt for the refugees and for my friend. We arrived here together." Ruby considers for a second, and opts to lay some more of her cards on the table. "I get it. I was on the war council for the King and Queen when they were fighting Regina. You need to be able to trust your people if you're going to fight someone like her, and I'd say that has to go for Corypheus. And honestly, I want to help, because... because if it were my world I'd hope that anyone who turned up would be willing to, too."

But. There's always a but, right? "I just want to make sure Emma's safe."

Cassandra raises an eyebrow in interest when Ruby mentions a war council. But she only nods, in both agreement and approval.

"It seems you understand the situation very well," she says. "Who is Emma? Your friend?"

"Well, I didn't fall out of a rift yesterday," Ruby replies, smile a little self mocking before she nods.

"Yeah. Her family's pretty close, so I'm just... you know, trying to help her with the adjustment period and stuff."

So if she's weird it's totally because she is homesick and missing her family. Totally that.

Cassandra makes no indication of amusement, or indeed, any indication that she had caught the joke at all. Instead, she nods slowly.

"I see," she says. "It is a difficult thing, to find oneself suddenly in such an unfamiliar place."

Going from Nevarra to Orlais is no comparison from falling through a rift into another world, but she still remembers how it had felt - how new and terrifying everything had been, especially at first. She's not entirely without sympathy.

Thankfully, years of making Regina coffee had taught her the art of bouncing back from a tough crowd.

"Yeah, exactly." A moment of pause, considering her options, before Ruby gathers herself to speak again. "So, are we cool? I'll step up to help in more missions and tasks that aren't serving drinks?"

She wonders, momentarily, if she should tell Cassandra about the Wolf, and the thought makes her stomach twist unhappily.

Cassandra's brow furrows in brief confusion.

"I am quite warm," she assures Ruby. Not that that...has anything to do with anything. "But..." She hesitates. A barmaid. The Inquisition needs all the help they can get, that is true, but she is not in the business of supplying catapult fodder to Cullen's army. "I would not have you put yourself at unnecessary risk, or attempt things you have not been trained for."

She quirks the corner of her lips up. It's not quite a smile. "Serving drinks in the tavern may prove equally important."

"No, it's--" is it worth explaining? Too late, apparently. "Sorry, it's an expression from the world without magic. If something's cool then it means that it's fine. Or good. Or it can be used to say something's really good, if you're feeling generous."

And despite herself, Red grins a little. "I was the best archer in my village when I was sixteen, and that was before I got involved in scouting and fighting for the war. I might not be formally trained, but I can hold my own. Working in the tavern is just... comfortable, you know? Familiar."

"I...see."

She doesn't, really. But she has learned what is worth pursing when questioning the Rifters, and what is not. The nuances of local expressions are not worth her time.

Instead, she raises an interested eyebrow at Ruby's explanation of her skills. "That is good to know," she says, and smiles, nodding. "And I understand. It is good to have some...stability. Something that is always the same."

"Exactly. I'm not adverse to adventure, but a girl likes a little stability from time to time. But, like I said, if you need a scout-on-hand, I'm happy to help."

For a moment Ruby almost drums her fingers on the table, though truthfully she's not quite that relaxed, not that at ease.

"Do you... can I help with anything else?" Or can she go frolick free down the mountainside, or something.

Cassandra hesitates, thinking. Then she shakes her head. To all appearances, Ruby is a perfectly normal young woman, the strangeness of her world aside. Yet even Thedas must seem strange to those who have come from elsewhere. It is hardly a reason to condemn her.

In any case, she is certainly not a threat of any kind. Cassandra shakes her head.

"The Inquisition will welcome your help, in whatever capacity you choose to give it," she says. "You may go."

Oh, thank God. Ruby rises from her chair, relieved, and extends a hand to Cassandra to shake.

"It was good to meet you." Aside from the 'apprehended by guards' part. And the lying about being a normal young woman part.

Regardless of whether or not Cassandra accepts her hand to shake, Ruby offers her a respectful nod, exiting with her cloak draped over her arm and friendly smile to the guard.

Edited 2016-04-15 03:43 (UTC)

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[semi-open] a friendly query

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