TEST DRIVE MEME!

[faderifting]

What if there is no tomorrow?

Only more Hinterlands

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, the first days of the new year find 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.

STILL WITH ADDED SNOW AND NOW ALSO ADDED KINDNESS TO ANIMALS (MOSTLY).

1. IF I GET SCARED, YOU'RE ALWAYS AROUND

You have turned the wrong corner in the snow, forded the wrong stream in the snow, crested the wrong hill in the snow, entered the wrong cave in the snow. Maybe you are far from camp, in the snow. Maybe you are in camp, which is also snowy. Whatever has happened, wherever you are: you are being chased through the snow by bears. Did you throw a snowball at the bears? Are they huge and snow-dusted? Babies burrowing through the snow drifts and coming for your ankles? Fade-touched in addition to snow-touched? Controlled by cold mages who are hiding in the snow? Popping up out of the snow like a game of whack-a-mole? What are they chasing you away from in all of this snow? What are they chasing you into, other than more snow? What warm things do you plan to make out of their hide if you kill them in the snow? What do you think they'll craft out of your hide if they kill you in the snow? P.S. It's still snowy.

2. THEY SAY WE'RE YOUNG AND WE DON'T KNOW

The Inquisition has, possibly, been a little too good at dealing with the Hinterlands' bear problem, and a group of concerned citizens--including young burgeoning naturalists, farmers concerned about the effect an unchecked population of rams may have on their crops come spring, and at least one woman who claims to be directly descended from bears--has taken issue. Maybe they're blocking your character's attempt to enter a bear-infested area. Maybe they've doused your character in bear blood. Maybe the bears they have been working so hard to save have cornered them in the wilderness and they're changing their tunes.

3. WITH YOU I CAN'T GO WRONG

The Inquisition's (cough Leliana's) habit of communicating by raven works out fine, usually, but this particular raven has gone a little rogue. It's not the raven's fault! She's young, she's trying. But she has very important information tied to her leg, and instead of delivering it, she's joined a flock of identical wild ravens to hunt for food in the snow. Recover her, somehow, without hurting her and making any spymistresses angry.

4. BEFORE IT'S EARNED, OUR MONEY'S ALL BEEN SPENT

The tavern at Redcliffe remains as busy as ever, filled with locals, travelers, and Inquisition members. But this month in addition to the usual free-flowing ale and rowdy conversation there is also a contest going on. Bakers have come from across the Hinterlands bearing their very best in an effort to win a coveted ribbon and the title of Best Cake. They pack the tavern and spill out into the surrounding courtyard when the weather allows, cakes sold off tables, out of packs, small chunks given away to whoever is passing and not paying enough attention to refuse. The votes are carefully guarded by several serious looking fellows in the back corner of the tavern. In addition to traffic issues, the cake madness has also caused an infestation of large local rodents, who have appeared out of their holes to devour the many crumbs. Legend has it that if they can be humanely eradicated from the tavern before the final vote is cast, spring will come early. No one in living memory has succeeded, but you are strongly encouraged to try anyway.

5. AIN'T NO HILL OR MOUNTAIN WE CAN'T CLIMB

Hunt game so you can rescue it before other hunters get there, kill demons or maybe just try to hug it out?, dig under the snow for herbs or plant some of your own to replace what others have taken, track bandits through the snow and see if they need a hand, deal with someone charging extortionist coat prices now that it's snowing and convince them to do the right thing, fall off a deceptively tall rock into the snow and admit it was your own fault, 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 in the snow so that you can give it a decent burial, climb trees or abandoned towers covered in snow and be careful not to knock them down, rummage around in empty homes to get out of the snow but leave a nice apology note, run from a dragon in the snow and promise not to trespass on its territory again, definitely don't kill any fennec foxes, set up camp and chat around the fire about your feelings because it's snowy and cold, give yourself a pat on the back (figuratively, or even literally if that's more your speed)-- the Hinterlands are your playground.

Comments

[gatheringstorm]

That body language and hesitation has Korrin curious, but she also doesn't want to scare the girl off. There's more than enough to be done without prying into someone else's affairs, anyway. "At least you missed the chaos with mages and Templars, then. That was nasty business, not that this current crap isn't."

She gestures to her left, past a hill. "If you need to catch your breath and restock on potions or whatnot, camp isn't far. It ought to be relatively bear-free, unless someone accidentally lured them back to camp again." It's not that common an occurrence, honest.

[bookish_lioness]

She was paying more attention to the birds than she was the man, so of course all Hermione noticed was that they suddenly diminished in number, all save for that last pesky one that seemed intent on relieving her of her ear. But even he was soon gone, and Hermione quickly brought a hand up to her face, assessing the damage. From what she could tell, she had a few scratches and was bleeding just a bit, but the worst of it was that itchy feeling of far too many feathers and talons and beaks having just surrounded her.

At length, once she was sure that her body parts were at least in the right place, she returned her attention to the man who luckily no longer saw her as some sort of threat. Still breathing hard from her recent scare, she tried not to huff as she replied, "Then maybe you could answer a few questions. Where am I, and why use ravens for messengers when they're so fickle, and why is my hand glowing, and do you know how to get to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry?"

Wincing a little, she reached up and squeezed at her earlobe that Baron had been attacking moments ago, feeling quite a bit of blood. She won't be able to put in earrings until that healed up. "And do you happen to have a bandage I could use?"

[qunari]

"Never even heard of it."

She'd picked up on the fact pretty quickly, however. Seemed like a bright girl. She could probably take a little blunt truth and run with it, and Bull let out a quiet huff as they moved.

"Truth is, you're probably not even in the same world. Don't ask me how that works, because I can't begin to put my head around all this magical crap, but the short of it is you got dropped here from wherever it is you come from. And no one's quite sure how to get you all back to where you came from."

One hand gestures ahead of them, towards some unknown destination. "So, instead of leaving you to fend for yourselves, the Inquisition's offered sanctuary to anyone the rifts spit out into our world. You get room and board, food, protection, and a way home as soon as they work one out."

[bookish_lioness]

Never even heard of it.

Hermione could have accepted that she'd somehow Apparated to some distant magical community in Europe where there were a little-known race of humanoid bulls and who had an Inquisition instead of a Ministry. It sounded a little daunting, but she would have been able to handle it. To be tossed into some strange land where the first person she'd met wouldn't know the British Isles from sea algae was something else entirely, and she had to fight that sick feeling in the pit of her stomach all over again.

Rather than risk hyperventilating, Hermione took a few moments to breathe slowly as everything Bull told her threatened to suffocate her. "I was dreaming," she pointed out. "I remember going to sleep after studying and I... there were Death Eaters, so I knew it couldn't be real, and then there was this. How could I go from a dream to whatever this is...?"

Worrying at her lower lip, she told him, "You called it magic, but magic doesn't work like this. I'd be more inclined to think that I was hallucinating. My parents did suggest I see a therapist after the war, so this could be all in my own head."

She was rambling, and brushing aside everything Bull told her, and that wasn't exactly the most cordial thing to do when he'd been so helpful to her. So she looked up at him, trying not to feel so tiny despite him having a laughably significant height advantage over her, and tried for another small smile. "Sorry. I don't mean to write you off as some fever dream. I should be thankful you helped me with those bears. I am. Thankful. So thank you."

[samahl]

His brow lifts at talk of torture and heresy. "That's terrible. I doubt many elves would be happy to join if that was the case. Many of my kind don't believe in the same religion that humans do. We'd be the first lined up for that sort of treatment. I assure you the Inquisition here would do no such thing."

He finds the bird and points it out to her. He doesn't want to startle it by making a big scene, though he wonders if they can both go around it to get it. For now, though, he just wants to watch it and answer her questions.

"You are in Thedas, but more specifically the Hinterlands, just outside of Redcliffe."

[qunari]

Bull shrugged, smirking faintly. "Eh. Not the weirdest thing I've fought off."

He wasn't about it take her disbelief personally. It was as natural a reaction as they came. She'd figure out what was real soon enough, and pushing her to do so wouldn't achieve much. Nothing positive, anyway.

"So...magic isn't connected to dreams, and the Fade, where you come from?" Not exactly his area of expertise, magic, but he couldn't help but be a little curious. They were still trying to figure out how all this connected together, after all.

[bookish_lioness]

She perks up immediately at the mention of elves. Sorry, Cyrus, this is a Thing for her.

"Elves-... you're an elf?" She's almost beaming, needing to cover her mouth with her hand so as to not look so inappropriately enchanted by the idea. "Sorry, it's just-... I knew you looked a little different from a human, but you look nothing like the elves I know back home. They're much smaller, and-... well, they're not treated very well, as a whole. At least, they didn't used to be! We're getting better about it, and I hope to help with that at some point after I graduate. I started the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare a few years ago; it didn't quite catch on, but the acronym probably didn't help. I'll have to think of something catchier."

Oh for-... she's rambling again. Shifting a little and trying not to look as sheepish as she feels, she murmurs, "Sorry. It's an important topic for me."

Clearing her throat, she watches the raven, though it's clear she's in no hurry to get too close to any of the birds at this point. "I've never heard of any of those places. How did I even get here?"

[bookish_lioness]

"What's the Fade?" she asked curiously. "Magic is just... it just is. It's a natural force that some people are born being able to wield and some aren't. The men are called wizards, the women witches; those who can't use magic are Muggles. It... gets a bit complicated after that. Magical families don't always have magical children, and sometimes Muggle families have magical children. I'm Muggle-born myself, so I spent the first eleven years of my life not even knowing that magic exists. Once I learned otherwise, I read every book on the subject I could get my hands on."

Pausing for a moment to think it over, she murmured, "But I've never heard of anything called the Fade. And dreams are only connected to magic insofar as Divination goes, and that's a dodgy subject all on its own."

[samahl]

As she goes on about elves he finds himself smiling. He finds her enthusiasm endearing. He wants to answer all of her questions now, raven or no raven.

"Why don't I start with how you got here, hm?" he suggests. "Very recently, an evil creature caused an explosion which tore a hole in the sky. From that, rifts appeared. Rifts are..." A pause, as he considers how to describe this. "They're sort of windows into the Fade and other realms. Shortly after the Inquisition closed the major Breach in the sky, men and women from other realms began to fall from the Rifts. I'm afraid that's what happened to you, and that's why your hand is glowing. You have a bit of the magic inside of you now."

[qunari]

"The Fade is...shit. This'd be a lot easier for a mage to explain."

He gestured vaguely in the air, brow furrowing heavily. "The gist of it is, there are two worlds. This one, the waking world, where everything's real and tangible and what have you. Then there's the Fade, where spirits and demons and abstract concepts hang around. Mages tap into their power by calling on the Fade, and supposedly it's where you go when you dream."

One eyebrow cocks higher. "Thing is, these rifts people have been coming through? Also lead to the Fade. You said you were dreaming when you came here."

[eviscerates]

Glancing down to smooth her hands over her skirts, Red misses the look. Her hands are gloved in red leather that stretched past her wrist and along to her forearm. It is concealing a glowing mark of the Rift on her, but she's not learned about that just yet. More fun for Ruby, apparently. "I suppose so. Although... now I think about it, David did rescue snow from a net, once." A pause, and her eyes narrow a little as she thinks. "Actually, he also caught her in the net."

Shrugging a little, she shakes her head. "My friends are strange people," she jokes. "But it seems like a beautiful place to grow up. You know, when you're not wading through snow or getting caught in traps." For a moment, Red seems very serious, expression a little exaggerated. "There aren't normally a lot of traps, are there?"

[bookish_lioness]

If nothing else, Hermione's just glad that he doesn't take offense to the way she goes on about elves. She doesn't mean to put them under the microscope and exclaim upon them in any sort of clinical way, especially not when it's obvious he's a very different type of elf altogether.

She tries to follow what he says, but it isn't easy, especially since she's had a particularly harrowing sort of day. "And the Fade is... what? A portal of some kind? No, the rifts are the portals, so the Fade must be some kind of realm. Is it named because it's special, or do all realms have their own names here? And-... what does having a different kind of magic inside me than what I usually have mean? Is it dangerous? Is there a way to take it out and just go back to where I belong?"

[bookish_lioness]

For a moment, she couldn't help wondering if he meant that the Fade is, at least figuratively, shit, but then she realized he was having difficulty explaining it. It sounded as though he was trying to say that the Fade was some sort of underworld, but then he brought up abstract concepts, and going there when you dream, and... well, that just sounded too dangerous to be a normal part of life.

"I was, but... everyone can't just go off into some strange abstract dimension when they fall asleep, can they? And demons and spirits can't reside in the same space as all of these dreamers. It doesn't make any sense. Wouldn't that mean that everyone has access to these so-called powers, and wouldn't the demons be able to hurt us while we sleep?"

1

[eviscerates]

Wolf hearing does all sorts of things for her. She can hear if her car engine is doing something a little funky long before most other people would, for example, and it helped her find David when he went missing in the woods, one time. Sometimes it's less great. Hearing gossip, for example, and helping her Granny run a hotel? Well, that was an adventure, and sometimes a terrible one.

Today she can hear breaking branches and rasping breath, and it has her stopped in her tracks and twisting, running towards the sound. Most people wouldn't have heard, but she can, and she's bolting through the snow to find the sound, until she see a girl. It's then that she unclasps her cloak, bright crimson with a deep red brocade, and lets it tumble behind her to the ground, and breaks into a sprint. "Get up a tree," she calls to the girl, eyes glowing gold, before she hurls herself towards the bears - not as Ruby, though. It's a wolf that meets them, a snarling mass of grey and black fur and bared teeth.

[qunari]

The more questions she asked, the more pained he looked. "Everyone doesn't. Qunari don't. Neither do dwarves. And as far as I know, demons are only really interested in mages. They can stay...I don't know. 'Aware' in dreams, I guess. Like I said, you'd be better off talking to one of the mages back at Skyhold."

Bull's nostrils flared. He could appreciate her being curious about how it all worked, but he was definitely not the one best equipped to answer her questions. The bulk of them would just have to wait, it appeared.

[bookish_lioness]

Hermione's sort of busy running for her life, so she doesn't notice that there's anyone else on the scene until she hears a voice calling for her to climb up a tree. It had definitely been a thought, but she needs to make sure the bears would be distracted long enough for her to do that, since she's not exactly the best climber.

So she turns around just enough to glance behind her, catching sight of the woman who'd apparently called out to her. Just when she's about to turn back, though, she notices a strange shift, and it's not just in the fact that the bears are no longer paying her the most attention.

Oh. A werewolf. Who can control her transformations, apparently. That... shouldn't be possible.

But okay. She isn't going to look a gift wolf in the mouth, especially not if that mouth ends up being indiscriminate about what it eats up. So she's only all too happy to take the distraction offered to her, scrambling up the nearest tree and deciding that she can always perch herself as high as possible and use that vantage point to figure out where to aim her wand, if need be.

[bookish_lioness]

"I don't know what Qunari are," she replied simply, perfectly oblivious. "And by dwarves, I assume you mean...?" Always one to try and be as sensitive as possible, she held up her hand about waist-high, even if she had no idea whether he was referring to the sorts of dwarves from fairy tales or actual individuals with dwarfism. She couldn't think of a polite way to ask after that, so she just let it be for now.

"But what you're saying is that this only applies to what you call mages? Would... I be considered a mage because I can use magic, or is there more to it than that?" She didn't much like the idea that she'd be have to learn to protect herself from demons whenever she slept, of all things.

[qunari]

"Pretty sure it'd be all the same to anyone you came across here, regardless of where your magic came from. So yeah, I'd say so."

And then he chuckled, a low rumbling sound before shaking his head. "As for Qunari...you're looking at one."

Not that a Rifter would have known that, true. Still, first encounters with people who'd never met a Qunari before were...well. Remarkably like meeting those same sort of people here.

She did seem a good deal less afraid of him, though.

[failedfirst]

The involvement of the other woman draws some of Velanna's attention, although it's little more than an angry sideways glance, initially. Of course, then she actually starts talking sense, which is frankly refreshing.

"Ah, look at this, a shemlen with a grasp of logic. Isn't that novel?" She draws in a breath, straightening her shoulders a little, and while she may be shorter than most of those present, she carries herself in such an imposing way that the villagers who weren't already backing up finally start to, now.

"Best listen to her and run along. Enough blood has been spilled for today."

[failedfirst]

Apparently the looming qunari does what an angry elf does not, and causes the humans to scatter. Velanna is almost surprised by the sudden change in their demeanor, and then she sees the qunari woman and understands.

"I- Thank you, stranger. I had no desire to confront those humans but they make it quite impossible to avoid them."

[bookish_lioness]

It was easy not to be afraid of someone when he'd just rescued you from a pair of enraged bears. It was still a bit of a strain to look up at his impressive height and take in his features, but she'd befriended giants and hippogriffs; she should be able to handle a... Qunari (apparently) that meant her no harm.

"Oh. So there are others like you? With the horns, I mean?" Cringing a little, she added, "Sorry, I don't mean to be insensitive. We just don't have anyone that looks like you back home."

[samahl]

"The Fade is where spirits reside. Up until the first person fell from the Rifts, we were unaware there were any realms other than the Fade and our physical realm. I suppose you should be the one to give yours name, since it is your home."

The questions about if the magic is dangerous or not makes him cringe a little. "We haven't been able to find a way to safely remove the marks, nor have we been able to send our visitors back home. As far as the danger... I'm afraid I'm not a magical expert. It might be best to ask someone who specializes in that sort of thing."

[eviscerates]

In fairness, running for your life is a pretty good priority to have. For now, Red - or the Wolf, more accurately - is fighting for hers. Two bears at once, and there have been times when she's had to face down a pack of wolves, or soldiers sent by Regina in the old days, or King George when he wanted revenge on David. She about matches the bears, for size - a little smaller, maybe, but she can move fast and twists to lunge at the throat of one. It's a messy fight, blood splashing across the snow.

The problem with two against one in a melee fight was that it was easy to get surrounded, so even as one of the bears goes down with her tearing at its throat, the other batters her back with outstretched paws, and the Wolf is all but tossed against a tree by the action.

She may have over estimated herself, this time around, and the Wolf is always that bit stronger during Wolfstime.

[failedfirst]

She gives no sign that she heard the whistle, aside from maybe a slight twitch of her eyebrow. When Nathaniel steps into the light however she holds a hand up, turning to look at him.

"You don't want to put your foot there. Unless you like the idea of being paralyzed from the neck down for the next half hour." She stands from where she's crouched and moves to dispel the trap, only giving him the barest of smiles after she's done undoing her handiwork. "I assume you have a reason for being out here, or are you lost?"

THE (ACCIDENTAL) SEDUCING OF MATTHIEU MURDOCK: A PREMIER BY BRUCE (NOT BANNER)

[amygdalae]

[Bruce quirks a wry smile when the bird squawks, and when Matthieu speaks Bruce transfers his gaze over to the other man. It's not that hard to notice the bitter tone in his voice.]

Sister Nightingale needs her birds to do what she does. [He tries his best to soothe Matthieu's rankled nerves.] I'm sure you were asked because they knew you'd get this done quickly.

[Why Bruce is here, though, he will never know.]