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allthisshitisweird2021-02-07 07:33 pm
faderifting) wrote in allthisshitisweird2021-02-07 07:33 pm
Entry tags:
TEST DRIVE MEME!
TEST DRIVE MEME
While in some alternate, tidier timeline, the War against the Elder One ended years ago, you're not in that timeline. It's 9:46, and there's a war raging in northern Orlais, where the Chantry, aided by the Inquisition, marshalling Orlais and the faithful of Southern Thedas into a new Exalted March against the army of demon-bound Wardens, Red Templars, Venatori loyalists, and darkspawn Corypheus has amassed over the last four years. Rifts are still scattered across the continent, periodically spitting out strangers from strange worlds with green-glowing anchors embedded in their hands. There's no Herald of Andraste to save Thedas. Someone else is going to have to do it.
You're part of (or allied with, recently hired by, imprisoned by, etc.) a new organization that's an offshoot of the Inquisition, dubbed Riftwatch, that consists mainly of the otherworldly new arrivals, rebels and Wardens, and other people who want to prevent the apocalypse without necessarily marching under the Chantry's banner to do it. Their headquarters is an island fortress called the Gallows—formerly a Circle of Magi, more formerly a prison for slaves, but its new occupants have done a good job removing the more grotesque reminders of that past and making the place livable.
Maybe you're here because you want to help. Maybe you need the money (though there isn't much of it). Maybe you acquired an anchor and sticking around is the only way to prevent your hand from falling off. Maybe you've been sent by the Chantry or some other entity to keep an eye on everyone—they're rumored to be a lot of weirdos and troublemakers. Or maybe you're a new rifter and just going where the nice people with swords tell you that you need to go.
OOC: We post Test Drives fairly infrequently! But current players are strongly encouraged to track new top-level comments to the post so they don't miss new arrivals, and new folks should not be shy about commenting just because the post has been up for a while.
I. KIRKWALL: Even when enormous evil darkspawn are trying to take over the known world and you and your colleagues might be the only ones who can truly stop him, you can't work all the time. And when you aren't working, Kirkwall is there for you, with its dingy Lowtown taverns, its flashy Hightown establishments, its market stalls and street musicians and underground network of old mining tunnels inhabited by the disenfranchised and a few violent criminals. Or maybe you can work all the time, and you're in the city to do some official shopping, keep an eye on a suspicious character, or show a potential financial backer a good time. The city is grey, cold, and in places vaguely sinister—but it's home.
II. SUNDERMOUNT: North of Kirkwall lies the highest peak of the nearby mountain range. In more ancient days it was rumored to be the site of unspeakable horrors, but at present prowled by more speakable horrors, like possessed skeletons, shadow warriors, and the rare revenant or varterral. And you've been sent to prowl along with them, inside the winding caves that cut through the peak or over the snow currently coating the paths that wind around it. The reasons vary: maybe you're in search of medicinal herbs, maybe you're tracking a party of suspicious travelers lurking outside Kirkwall, or maybe you just took a wrong turn off the road trying to travel in or out of the city.
III. ORLAIS: Further south, Orlais is weathering the winter and the invasion of its northern territories in its usual style—which is why you're here, in a snow-blanketed manor just outside Val Royeaux, representing Riftwatch at the invitation of a gathering of masked nobility who have gathered to discuss ways to support the war effort while not starving their serfs and alienages. And to play parlor games. Maybe have an occasional chamber concert. Your role may be to actively participate in the planning, or it may be to be charming and noncommital while observing, or it may be to provide an example of a well-behaved rifter/elf/mage/Qunari/Fereldan. Regardless: your best behavior is expected, but that doesn't mean you can't sneak into the Duchess' very well-appointed library at night or slip away to try sliding down the length of a frozen reflecting pool in the gardens.
IV. THE FRONT: Riftwatch is no longer part of the Inquisition or directly engaged in the war that it, the Chantry's faithful Exalted Marchers, and Orlais are fighting against an invading Tevinter and Ander force in northern Orlais. But frequently enough, Riftwatch's business—delivering helpful intelligence, spending quality time with prisoners of war that might have information, assisting soldiers with a rift they've found too close to their camps, or passing through on the way somewhere else—requires passing near or through the frontline drawn through northern Orlais and now northern Nevarra, where it's possible to encounter enemy bands of dracolisk-mounted soldiers, fire-throwing mages, or particularly nasty darkspawn with red lyrium growing from their bodies.
V. SEND A MESSAGE: Each member of Riftwatch (or rifter, or ally) is assigned a blue crystal, small enough to wear around the neck, that can transmit voice messages, as well as an enchanted book tied to that crystal that can be used to exchange written messages. They're secure enough to discuss the war, if you'd like to get down to business, but loosely controlled enough to ask a question or play a game with only a few rolled eyes from people who hate fun.
VI. WILDCARD: From the Gallows' library to the pirate islands off the coast, from Hightown's high-priced market stalls to the bloody frontlines of the war, Thedas is yours to explore.
While in some alternate, tidier timeline, the War against the Elder One ended years ago, you're not in that timeline. It's 9:46, and there's a war raging in northern Orlais, where the Chantry, aided by the Inquisition, marshalling Orlais and the faithful of Southern Thedas into a new Exalted March against the army of demon-bound Wardens, Red Templars, Venatori loyalists, and darkspawn Corypheus has amassed over the last four years. Rifts are still scattered across the continent, periodically spitting out strangers from strange worlds with green-glowing anchors embedded in their hands. There's no Herald of Andraste to save Thedas. Someone else is going to have to do it.
You're part of (or allied with, recently hired by, imprisoned by, etc.) a new organization that's an offshoot of the Inquisition, dubbed Riftwatch, that consists mainly of the otherworldly new arrivals, rebels and Wardens, and other people who want to prevent the apocalypse without necessarily marching under the Chantry's banner to do it. Their headquarters is an island fortress called the Gallows—formerly a Circle of Magi, more formerly a prison for slaves, but its new occupants have done a good job removing the more grotesque reminders of that past and making the place livable.
Maybe you're here because you want to help. Maybe you need the money (though there isn't much of it). Maybe you acquired an anchor and sticking around is the only way to prevent your hand from falling off. Maybe you've been sent by the Chantry or some other entity to keep an eye on everyone—they're rumored to be a lot of weirdos and troublemakers. Or maybe you're a new rifter and just going where the nice people with swords tell you that you need to go.
OOC: We post Test Drives fairly infrequently! But current players are strongly encouraged to track new top-level comments to the post so they don't miss new arrivals, and new folks should not be shy about commenting just because the post has been up for a while.
I. KIRKWALL: Even when enormous evil darkspawn are trying to take over the known world and you and your colleagues might be the only ones who can truly stop him, you can't work all the time. And when you aren't working, Kirkwall is there for you, with its dingy Lowtown taverns, its flashy Hightown establishments, its market stalls and street musicians and underground network of old mining tunnels inhabited by the disenfranchised and a few violent criminals. Or maybe you can work all the time, and you're in the city to do some official shopping, keep an eye on a suspicious character, or show a potential financial backer a good time. The city is grey, cold, and in places vaguely sinister—but it's home.
II. SUNDERMOUNT: North of Kirkwall lies the highest peak of the nearby mountain range. In more ancient days it was rumored to be the site of unspeakable horrors, but at present prowled by more speakable horrors, like possessed skeletons, shadow warriors, and the rare revenant or varterral. And you've been sent to prowl along with them, inside the winding caves that cut through the peak or over the snow currently coating the paths that wind around it. The reasons vary: maybe you're in search of medicinal herbs, maybe you're tracking a party of suspicious travelers lurking outside Kirkwall, or maybe you just took a wrong turn off the road trying to travel in or out of the city.
III. ORLAIS: Further south, Orlais is weathering the winter and the invasion of its northern territories in its usual style—which is why you're here, in a snow-blanketed manor just outside Val Royeaux, representing Riftwatch at the invitation of a gathering of masked nobility who have gathered to discuss ways to support the war effort while not starving their serfs and alienages. And to play parlor games. Maybe have an occasional chamber concert. Your role may be to actively participate in the planning, or it may be to be charming and noncommital while observing, or it may be to provide an example of a well-behaved rifter/elf/mage/Qunari/Fereldan. Regardless: your best behavior is expected, but that doesn't mean you can't sneak into the Duchess' very well-appointed library at night or slip away to try sliding down the length of a frozen reflecting pool in the gardens.
IV. THE FRONT: Riftwatch is no longer part of the Inquisition or directly engaged in the war that it, the Chantry's faithful Exalted Marchers, and Orlais are fighting against an invading Tevinter and Ander force in northern Orlais. But frequently enough, Riftwatch's business—delivering helpful intelligence, spending quality time with prisoners of war that might have information, assisting soldiers with a rift they've found too close to their camps, or passing through on the way somewhere else—requires passing near or through the frontline drawn through northern Orlais and now northern Nevarra, where it's possible to encounter enemy bands of dracolisk-mounted soldiers, fire-throwing mages, or particularly nasty darkspawn with red lyrium growing from their bodies.
V. SEND A MESSAGE: Each member of Riftwatch (or rifter, or ally) is assigned a blue crystal, small enough to wear around the neck, that can transmit voice messages, as well as an enchanted book tied to that crystal that can be used to exchange written messages. They're secure enough to discuss the war, if you'd like to get down to business, but loosely controlled enough to ask a question or play a game with only a few rolled eyes from people who hate fun.
VI. WILDCARD: From the Gallows' library to the pirate islands off the coast, from Hightown's high-priced market stalls to the bloody frontlines of the war, Thedas is yours to explore.
no subject
It's not stupid.
[ she's never once forgotten the privilege that her brother had in being born a Tyrell, one that so many others would've never been able to dream of. and she's never forgotten that she once sat next to a deranged king and told him that he had every right to consider death as a suitable punishment for such a perversion. there's an almost disdainful sorrow in her heart to know that such backward sentiments are echoed in other worlds. ]
It just means that they were that important to you.
[ it's her turn to squeeze Ellie's hand, well-timed with the curved edge of the pond. ]
All my important people never cared, either. But that's the irony of things, I suppose. We were so accepting in our own corner that we never realized it might one day be our undoing - a weapon held against us by our enemies.
no subject
Ellie follows her silently, taking the slow turn around the edge of the water, careful now of where they put their feet. Most of the clumsiness has gone out of them, but all it takes is one slip, one misstep, and they'll go from pleasant conversation to biting it on the ice.
Seems like it's not the first time Margaery's been aware of precarious footing.]
... shit.
That sounds awful. What'd you do?
no subject
the whole story would be too much. Ellie doesn't deserve the torture of having to skate through it all. ]
My brother was open about his affections for other men. For a while, even with an intolerant atmosphere, we were able to coast through with it being the worst kept secret.
[ anger, she realizes distantly. it's anger that's making her so warm. Cersei's smug face shutters across her mind's eye, along with a ghostly ripple of how it had felt to be so helpless. ]
But I got careless. I angered my enemy to the point where she enabled religious fanatics to take over the kingdom. They took my brother, and me, on account of his perversion, and my knowledge about it. We were imprisoned.
no subject
Fuck.
[She just barely breathes it. But she can't imagine that things ended happily, not from there.]
Your enemy?
no subject
[ her smiles have always been the hardest to contain when they're full of rage and it rings true now. ]
A queen regent who knew her fall from power would be fully secured if I managed to fully influence her son, the king. And I was close. [ she says the last sentence looking at Ellie, tone almost passing for defensive if it weren't for the resigned bitterness that follows. ] But I should have known better. My mistake cost us too much.
[ how does someone move on from the biggest regret of her life when she's never had to deal with regret before? ironically, Ellie's grip works as an effective anchor for her emotions, at least until the heat begins to reside and the cold settles in once more. ]
It... is difficult, when you've lived your entire life avoiding mistakes, to wind up somewhere that won't afford you closure. Sometimes I think death might have been sweeter.
no subject
Ellie's hand tightens a bit on hers, letting several beats of silence stretch out.]
You still might go back. Find out how it all ends.
cw: death, panic attack, shitty got writing compliance >:(
when the long spell passes, she realizes she's been staring and quickly averts her eyes. a deep breath or two later, she swallows and shakes her head minutely. ]
I'm afraid that's not possible.
[ she is smiling, but she can't stop, just as she can't stop the burn of tears lining her eyes. ]
The last thing I recall before I was pulled into the rift was. [ her breathing grows shallow, and she grips Ellie's hand just as she held Loras in that moment, trembling uncontrollably. ] The heat of wildfire. The ground splitting open, as if it were a great beast opening its mouth to swallow us whole.
[ her tears carve delicate paths through the chill on her cheeks, before they grow even colder. ]
It's already ended, for me.
no subject
She goes still with her, pausing, and responds to the way Margaery desperately clutches at her hand, like she's an anchor in some kind of invisible storm.
So Ellie takes her hand and uses it to pull her in close to her body, reaching out to wrap her other arm around her waist, and ease her down.
They sit, right there on the ice, and Ellie holds her to her body. She smells faintly of sweat and leather and horse.]
no subject
she's never broken before. not in the face of starvation or dehydration or imprisonment. not in the face of blatant disrespect and the unfairness of it all. but then, in those times, she knew someone was still watching - simply waiting for her to lose. here, no one watches. no one cares about yet another rifter.
so Margaery cries. her tears soak through Ellie's shirt in mere seconds from the force of her sobs, but the thought of apology doesn't come until much, much later. long after her cries have quietened naturally, toxic anguish expelled from her lungs. the grief is still present, but lighter. bearable. ]
I'm sorry, Ellie. So sorry.
[ her voice is soft, raw. her face remains hidden even as her sense of dignity has already fled. ]
no subject
She knows this, and what it is to wrestle with the pain. It doesn't matter that they don't know each other well; she knows this. So she lets Margaery cry it out, holding on as long as she needs it. The sounds of the music and distant laughter inside mingle with the sounds of Margaery's sobs, and it seems fitting somehow, even if that thought's a little bit fucked up.
It's all a little bit fucked up.
Ellie strokes her hair, the way Dina used to do for her, and hopefully doesn't mess it up too badly.]
S'okay.
[Her voice is barely above a whisper.]
You've been holding onto that shit since you got here, huh?
no subject
Death would be easier than memory.
[ she speaks again when her breathing has somewhat evened out, only punctured by sobs every few seconds or so. and while she doesn't allow herself to stay melted in Ellie's embrace, she stays close. ]
I feel as though I have been condemned to carry grief three times over; the knowledge that I lost, the family I could not save, and my grandmother - left with no legacy after all we've fought for.
[ after the storm, her eyes are clear. sharp. reddened but no longer glossy with unshed pain. in contrast, Ellie's eyes appear almost soulful compared to her own. ]
Should I have sought to kill my enemy when I had the chance?
no subject
Sometimes it sticks around for a while, though, and she gets the feeling this will, even if the crying will calm.]
... I dunno.
[It's a fucked up thing to admit, but. She has to. Ellie breathes out, weighing her words.]
I did. And it didn't change much.
no subject
I'm glad you're alive.
[ she thinks of it as winning, a triumph, but after the small snippet of Ellie's world she's seen, she can't presume it'd feel the same for her. ]
And that you're here.
[ her face is still ruddy from the heat of her breakdown, but Margaery braves the embarrassment of being seen and leans back to offer Ellie a small smile. ]
I know this is probably not what you signed up for when you thought to come here. But thank you. Truly. I had thought to carry this burden on my own for the rest of what life I have here. And now I see that was a foolish undertaking.
no subject
It's a shock to hear Margaery say it, bittersweet but still a little bit sweet. And what she says about carrying it alone is another small shock.]
Don't feel like I did anything, but. Glad it helped.
[Listening, anyway. Maybe that's part of it.]
i think we can wrap this one up? c:
[ it's easy to revert back to something familiar, an old skin she's yet to shed because it's so closely linked to who she is. but Margaery leaves her teasing just there for now, harmless and easy, reaching up to pat her own cheeks carefully so evidence of her tears will disappear as quickly as possible. this too, is a comforting routine. ]
What do you think? Another lap or two around this pond before we go inside to make sure we don't inadvertently freeze ourselves?
yes!!
She wonders if Margaery came out here to cry, originally. The cold would explain flushed cheeks, a red nose.]
Sounds good to me.
[And before they head in, she pauses once, reaching up to fix Margaery's hair where a lock of it's fallen loose.]