Test Drive Meme!

[faderifting]

No, Seriously, You're Never Getting Out Of Here

Maybe the Inquisition sent you, maybe you came seeking the Inquisition. Maybe you fell out of a rift into this world last week and are still just trying to find your feet. However it happened, early fall finds you in the Hinterlands. Tucked between Ferelden's massive Lake Calenhad and the icy Frostback Mountains, the Hinterlands are a hilly region covered in patchy forests and small farms trying to eke out a living between the boulders. Though somewhat remote, the area is rich with game and minerals and home to Redcliffe, a bustling town on a busy trade route.

Lately the Hinterlands have also been full of mages and templars and rifts, all threatening to turn once-peaceful countryside into a dangerous warzone. The Inquisition has set up several camps and sent personnel to try to restore order to the region, unwilling to let it slip into chaos. There's a lot to be done, some of it straightforward killing bad things, some of it weird and nebulous morale-building.

NOTE: We will not have an App Help/Enable Me meme this month, but anyone who has questions about OC concepts or AU adaptations is welcome to ask for assistance on the Mod Contact page.

1. WHERE THE SUN COMES UP ABOUT TEN IN THE MORNING

QUESTS COME AND GO BUT BEARS ARE ETERNAL: You have turned the wrong corner, forded the wrong stream, crested the wrong hill, entered the wrong cave. Maybe you are far from camp. Maybe you are in camp. Whatever has happened, wherever you are: you are being chased by bears. Did you provoke the bears? Are they huge? Babies? Fade-touched? Mage-controlled? What are they chasing you away from? What are they chasing you into? What do you plan to make out of their hide if you kill them? What do you think they'll craft out of your hide if they kill you?

2. THEY MOVED DOWN SOUTH OF REDCLIFFE

NICE PLACE FOR A SPOT OF CAMPING: If there were an inn, which there's not, there wouldn't be room for you in it. Traveling with the Inquisition means carrying your own bedrolls, putting up your own tents, and sleeping alongside whoever you've been told to share with--no matter how much you hate them or how loud they snore. If you really can't stand it, the alternative is sleeping outside. On the ground. With the bears.

3. AND THEY LAUGHED AND SANG A NEW SONG

Hey, there's a big, crazy light in the sky that craps out demons! Let's worship it!: Not everyone thinks the Breach was a bad thing. In the southeastern mountains, a burgeoning cult has taken up residence in Winterwatch Tower to wait patiently for the Maker to reach through the tears in the veil and gather the faithful to his bosom. They're a little kooky, maybe, but harmless, and they're happy enough to share their wine and lager with travelers in the area. The demon-spewing rift behind the Tower, on the other hand... Too bad the Herald didn't close that thing before she bit it. Watch your step.

4. NO ONE EVER KNEW THERE WAS LYRIUM IN THEM MOUNTAINS

TROUBLE IN THE DEEP: The Carta is everywhere, but it's here in force, occupying dwarven ruins in a chasm behind a waterfall. Inquisition forces have already cleared most of the smugglers out of the hold, but there's still a vault to break into, bodies to loot, and old texts to search through for anything worth adding to the Inquisition's growing archives. Also: darkspawn. Sorry.

5. AND THE SUN GOES DOWN ABOUT THREE IN THE DAY

CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE: hunt game, kill demons, gather herbs, track bandits, haggle over the price of armor, fall off a deceptively tall rock, get lost circling the same hill ten times trying to find a way up to the weird glowing skull on a stick you can see is up there, climb trees or abandoned towers, rummage around in empty homes, run from a dragon, cry over how cute that fennec fox you just shot was, set up camp and chat around the fire, knock yourself out (figuratively, or even literally if that's more your speed)-- the Hinterlands are your Frostback Mountain oyster.

Comments

[justice_is_blond]

He lets the comments pass, paying far more attention to the answer he's getting. While he wouldn't wish his situation on anyone, it would be something he doesn't even have words for to not be alone.

Unfortunately, it looks like it's entirely unrelated. It's some tattoo, and... summons a sword? And controls healing. It apparently has nothing to do with spirits and Anders is disappointed. He has no idea what this even is, but it isn't really relevant in the way he'd hoped.

Anders was frowning as he handed back the clothing, giving a shake of his head a moment later.

"I don't get that." Ink pushed under the guy's skin meant a sword and healing? He'd never heard of the like. "Who did the tattoo?" ...Except the guy said like a tattoo, not actually one, and Anders tilted his head. "Ignore that question. What are you?"

Because one way or another there was magic involved here, and magic he didn't understand, had never heard of before.

[thedevilson]

They are both alone in their own way, at least in what they were and how that impacted their lives, but to understand what Anders went through or have Anders understand what Dante went through--well, it really wasn't the same.

"Actually that question is entirely related to what I am, this thing on my back, I was born with," he said idly, brushing himself down as if to get what wrinkles he could out of the fabric, but he gave it up half way as an exercise in futility, "it's the mark of a Nephilim...you probably understand what a demon is, a Nephilim is half demon and half angel...I don't know if angels exist in your mythos or not...but they're like...the opposite of a demon I guess you'd say. When angels and demons break taboos in my world, create children like me, we're called Nephilim. Hybrids, half-breeds, abominations depending on who you asked."

Dante's pretty nonchalant, but that doesn't mean he isn't waiting patiently for whatever defensive or offensive gesture he's expecting.

"Does that make sense or...did I just confuse you? Should I show you?"

[justice_is_blond]

An abomination. Something between spirit and demon. Anders keept his face very still as the man spoke, trying to hide all of what he was feeling - surprise, certainly, but there was a blend of relief and fear and longing in there as well as a dozen other things. It wasn't the same thing, certainly, but it's closer than he'd ever expected to find.

"It makes sense." His voice was hushed. "Rather than angels, we have spirits. They're the counterpoint. They can also... become demons. I don't know if that's the same." Justice was no longer purely a spirit, but neither of them would call him so far gone as to be a demon. He couldn't say whether it was denial or simply true, but they weren't going that far.

"Can you show me?" He should offer something in return, but fear was still holding him back despite maybe now having words for what he can sense of the man.

[thedevilson]

"Well, no, not really...angels and demons are two separate species...their very nature is that they can't become corrupted. Still, they're counterpoints and if that helps understand what I'm talking about..." it was better than mincing words or trying to muddy the water too much. If a spirit was considered the opposite of a demon here, he wasn't going to go too much in depth, the simpler he made it the less explaining it took and the less of a headache it would be for the both of them.

"It'll sting a little, but yeah I can," not before taking several steps back, however, he didn't want Anders to get himself all caught up in the atmosphere. Once Dante determined it was safe enough he triggered the transformation and it looked as though it stung more than just a bit as a howl was ripped from him. Of course it would probably be the same for anyone who was being ripped through with red lancets. Fortunately the moment was brief enough, but the trigger drastically altered Dante--he still looked the same, but there were red cracks against his skin, like light was trying to pour through. The whites of his eyes were blood red and the iris and retina were pure white, his hair was equally white. It might be odd to think about it, but even time seemed to slow down around him, "shoulda told you...it's not very pretty..."

[justice_is_blond]

So it wasn't quite the same. But it didn't have to be; Anders doubted he'd ever meet someone who has landed themselves in the same situation as he had. He shouldn't hope, even. Hope always turned wrong, and he worked to get his relief and longing back in check even as the other man stepped back.

The change was dramatic. Not just the yell, but the red cracks that tore through him, the way everything seemed slower. Anders looked and hesitated. It wasn't like if he showed his in return he could definitively take control back, and there was also no guarantee Justice wouldn't find this man and the red offensive. The spirit was already muttering in the back of Anders' mind about how red was never a good sign.

"Pretty isn't something I'm worried about." But holding back completely wasn't really an option either, was it? If he could gain... He didn't know. Anders frowned and exhaled before deciding to take a semi-safe route. "I've seen something similar before, but not red breaking through. Blue. Have you seen that?"

[thedevilson]

It wasn't a transformation that Dante could hang onto for long, not in this world at least, not without something to help bolster the trigger time. It was also a form he didn't much care to hold onto either and after about 30 seconds it dissipated and he reverted back to his usual form. Not that it slowed him down, but Dante did lower himself to the nearest raised piece of earth, feeling some of his reserves drained.

"That's good, because demons aren't exactly pretty," a brief pause and almost as an afterthought he added, "before you get your robes in a twist, I'm not that kind of demon," as if that's supposed to diffuse the situation, but realistically Dante had saved Anders from bears and if he wanted to attack him he would have done so long before now, "I have a twin brother named Vergil...he's more inclined toward blue, but he didn't come here with me."