[sandbox] out of the abyss

[bringspeopletogether]

It starts as a shimmer out by the lake. Look at the water from the right angle, and the light glinting off it looks a bit...green. Sickly.

(Familiar, if you're from a certain time and place in Thedas.)

Look up some minutes later, and you can pinpoint the source: a thin, glowing ribbon uncoiling in the sky. It emerges slowly, but the more light it casts, the more momentum it gains, until it explodes outward with an enormous crack like lightning splintering the ground.

A much quieter thump follows as something hits the dirt.

Someone.

The glow vanishes; the person doesn't move for a long beat. (Get up, he's telling himself, get up -- ) He manages to drag his hands level with his shoulders, press down to bear himself upward an inch, look up at where he's landed.

Get. Up.

Another shove, and Alistair lurches to his feet, sword hauled from its scabbard and shield at the ready. His breath rattles, harsh against his throat, as he stares wild-eyed around the grounds.

Comments

[howtoactfereldan]

Cullen, inside, in an armchair by the window, knows what that is. And knows that any Fade rift might spawn demons. Better to have them addressed by someone who knows what they are.

This thought process happens in about a second, after which Cullen is on his way out the door, longsword in hand. Only at that point does he notice --

Demons don't wear Warden armor.




His steps slow, and slow, and stop.


"You were gone," Cullen says, from about ten feet away. "You stayed behind."

[bringspeopletogether]

That's --

That's new, he thinks, distantly. They've thrown a lot of familiar faces at him. Hardly ever Cullen, though, the last time that happened was -- was however long ago it was.

It's so quiet. It's bright. He can hear and see the demon quite clearly.

Good.

He gathers the reserves of his strength, bares his teeth, and charges.

[howtoactfereldan]

"Alistair -- "

That's all he says, because then instinct takes over. Alistair has a shield, and Cullen doesn't; the shield is a weapon, and one more dangerous to him than Alistair's sword at the moment.

Besides that, there's no evidence that says he ought to be attacking Alistair at this point.

Cullen waits until the last possible moment, and then turns aside -- something like a bullfighter's move. "Alistair. I'm not going to fight you."

[bringspeopletogether]

He doesn't see the feint coming, but he also doesn't get more than a couple steps past the demon before spinning around to correct his course. His sword follows through the same arc, aimed for its shoulder.

(Clumsily; he's stumbling a little. Alistair's lost all finesse Warden training might have offered. He doesn't care how he fells the enemy, just that it happens, just that he stays upright and keeps fighting.)

[howtoactfereldan]

It's an easy parry, especially given how Alistair's moving. "Alistair, listen to me. I'm not fighting." He circles, moving in a broad arc away from the Warden. "Do you know where you are?"

Dangerous to let any other thing draw his focus, given how single-minded Alistair seems to be on violence, but Cullen nonetheless finds himself looking for signs of injury. How long was he in there --

[bringspeopletogether]

What --

Alistair shakes his head, like he's trying to drive away a troublesome fly. Know where he is, of course he knows where he is, why would --

It's trying to make him think he's escaped. That -- that explains the brightness, the coherency to the terrain. Oh.

But it's also sticking to its word so far (whatever that may be worth) and isn't driving forward to attack. Alistair doesn't fall back, doesn't lower his weapon, but he does grow still, chest heaving as he locks eyes with the creature wearing Cullen's likeness.

[howtoactfereldan]

Well. That's something.

Cullen stills, lowering his sword.

"Alistair," he says again, quieter. "This is Milliways. Not Adamant. Not the Fade. Do you understand?"

[bringspeopletogether]

A desperate snarl: "Stop."

His grip tightens on both shield and sword.

[howtoactfereldan]

So... that's a no on the understanding.

And Cullen knows -- the worst possible thing he can do is push.

It takes a lot of will, but Cullen makes himself let out a long breath, shoulders relaxing. He doesn't break his gaze.

[bringspeopletogether]

It's not moving. Is it trying to lure him close enough for an attack? Is this another damned variation on seeing his friends die by his own hand?

At least it's not pretending to be Duncan this time. That was particularly bad.

Harshly, "What do you want?"

[howtoactfereldan]

"Nothing." Still quiet. Still calm. "Not a thing."

Breathe in. Out.

"You could turn and see if you can spy the Black City. Point it out to me."

[bringspeopletogether]

Ah. Alistair's expression hardens. That's how it plans to get him to turn his back, then.

He doesn't do anything so stupid as look over his shoulder, but he breaks eye contact for an instant, lifting his gaze to the sky beyond Cullen. There's nothing. Just mountains.

Could the demon root so deeply into his mind that it obscures the Black City? He doesn't know. He doesn't remember.

(The tip of his sword wavers: his hands have begun to tremble with exhaustion.)

[howtoactfereldan]

"If this were the Fade, you could see the Black City." Steady. "From wherever you stand. But it's not there at all. This isn't the Fade. It's Milliways."

[bringspeopletogether]

You're lying.

He doesn't have any proof, not beyond gut instinct and the old truism: demons lie. The skies are clear, and blue, and no distant cities loom on the horizon. The creature still isn't attacking him.

But even if it's not attacking, the demon -- for whatever reason -- has chosen to focus on him. And so long as he keeps its attention, that means one less demon standing between Hawke, the Inquisitor, and their path out of the Fade. Some sacrifices don't have to end in death.

(Maker. He's so damned tired. The moment he stopped moving, Alistair became acutely aware of every ache in his body, every muscle strained past its limit. He's not even sure he could hold his own if it tried to run him through with that longsword.)

Slowly, he lowers his weapons. It doesn't look like a wholly controlled movement -- more like the weight has dragged his arms down.

[howtoactfereldan]

And just as slowly, never breaking eye contact --

Cullen sheathes his sword.

"How long has it been?" Alistair looks awful; Cullen's impressed the man hasn't collapsed right there. "I mean -- if you can... tell. In the Fade. What do you need?"

[bringspeopletogether]

"You'd know better than I would."

He's too weary to put any heat into the words. Alistair closes his eyes; rouses himself back to attention a second later, once he realizes what he's done.

In peace, vigilance.

"There's nothing I want."

[howtoactfereldan]

Cullen rubs the back of his neck -- an absent movement.

"I know what I'd suggest." Reserved. "We get you a room with a bed and a hot bath. I'll stand guard, if that would help."

He drops his hand with a huff of joyless laughter. "I'd even fetch you a cheese plate."

[bringspeopletogether]

Alistair doesn't so much as crack a smile.

"I'm fine." Flat. He casts the briefest glance toward the familiar tavern, then, with effort, makes a halfhearted gesture toward it with his sword. "Walk ahead of me."

He doesn't know its game. (Complacency, maybe? Wait until Alistair's secure in bed, or a bath, before attacking?) Until he does, the best he can do is watch his own back.

[howtoactfereldan]

Cullen's mouth tightens.

He'll -- send a message to Ysalwen and Cassandra from upstairs. So someone knows where he's gone. Just in case.

"I haven't hurt you, Alistair." He doesn't raise his voice. "And I won't."

Would that be enough to ward off an attack from the rear? Cullen doesn't know, but one thing he does: he would have died in Kinloch Hold if Alistair and his colleagues hadn't shown up.

So he turns and walks, steady. The bar isn't crowded. He already has a key to a room in his pocket.

[bringspeopletogether]

Alistair follows. A few steps in, he realizes he won't be able to carry his sword the whole way; behind Cullen, there's the metallic noise of a sword being sheathed, a quieter wooden thump as he slings his shield across his back.

He's pretty sure he still has a dagger on him somewhere. That'll have to suffice, if things go south.




"Why aren't you?" he asks, eventually.

Usually, once you see through a demon's ruse, it tries to destroy you. This one hasn't. It hasn't even dropped the illusion yet.

(Desire demon, he's thinking: playing off his need for rest, food, freedom, safety.)

[howtoactfereldan]

That's... surprisingly easier to answer than Cullen expected, given what he suspects Alistair must have been through, given Alistair's obvious mistrust.

He never stops walking, though he turns his head to say over his shoulder, "Because you're my friend."

Up the stairs. "Because I thought you were dead."

Key in the lock. "Because I'm very glad to find that you're not."

(Nobody tell Cullen that that's a possibility in Milliways.)

He steps into the room and goes straight for the window on the far side, hands going to the buckle of his sword belt. "I'm going to rest my sword against this wall, and then I'll turn around."

It's -- difficult. To do this calmly. But given Alistair's flatness and exhaustion...

Well. It's a good thing Cullen was never one for melodramatic reunion scenes.

[bringspeopletogether]

No, he wants to snap. Don't tell me what he would say, tell me why you aren't --

It wouldn't give him a straight answer anyway. There's no point to asking again.

He hovers near the entranceway -- aside from the window, it's the only point of egress -- and rests one hand on the pommel of his own sword. Guarded: "All right."

[howtoactfereldan]

Sword goes against the wall, in the corner.

Cullen steps as far away from it as he can, without moving closer to Alistair. There'd be time for Alistair to gut him, if he wanted, if he moved quickly, before Cullen could pick up his weapon again.

True to his word, he turns around.

(Alistair's got to be -- what, disconnected from reality? Still believing he's in the Fade? Which would make Cullen a demon. Right?

How do you prove to someone that you're not a demon?)

[bringspeopletogether]

Alistair leans against the wall, arms folded. (He's going for casual. It doesn't look it: it's obviously nothing but a means for him to stay upright.) Several long moments pass where all he does is study Cullen.

There has to be something -- some twitch, some gap in the illusion, something --

"Why him?" When he's not trying to push the volume of his voice -- to sound authoritative, to demand an explanation, to force his words to bear himself up on his last bit of strength -- it comes out as a hoarse croak. "There's dozens of other faces you could've picked. Your friends did. Have. When they put up the pretense at all. Why Cullen this time?"

[howtoactfereldan]

A momentary, crooked smile.

"It's really me, Alistair. I wouldn't lie to you. Never have. I don't -- if there's a way to prove to you that this isn't the Fade, that it's what it appears to be, tell me, and I'll do it."

He managed it once in Kirkwall, but it involved kneeing a recruit in the balls, and Cullen isn't quite that self-sacrificing to suggest it. At least not immediately.