☼ Arrival; ☼

[ladysunshines]

Who: Bethany Hawke and [open]
Where: Outside the caves!
When: Now...ish?
Rating: PG-13 for now!
Summary: Yass queen

The Story: Her head was swimming. The battle with Orsino had taken nearly all her magical power, but it was more than that -- seeing him use blood magic to take the corpses of all the mages that she’d known living and working in the circle to turn himself into an abomination -- it was too much. Too much on top of the templars and countless innocent people who had no doubt been killed when the Chantry had been obliterated. Her heart ached as if her mother and brother had died all over again. So much senseless violence because of Meredith, because of the extremist templars -- she squeezed her eyes shut and when they opened again, she was surrounded by a cave of brick icicles. What fresh hell was this?

“Garrett!” Her voice echoed hollowly in the cave and she spun, panicked. “Garrett!” What if this is some sort of last-ditch effort that Orsino learned from that horrible beast, Quentin? Was she going to be trapped in some sort of labyrinth for the rest of her (probably very short, very painful) life? She scanned the room and let out a sob of relief at the sight of the entrance to the cave, scrambling up the incline with little care for whether she was letting the barbs of once-molten stone bite into her skirts. She rushed toward the point of light, awkwardly using her staff to half-vault her toward the ever-growing gleam.

Blissfully, the Circle-mandated wear was spelled to be durable and once she made it to the sunlight, she skidded to a stop and took in her surroundings, staff at the ready.
“Show yourself!” There had to be someone here, there had to be some meaning of this that could be explained. The pain in her heart was too fresh for this to be heaven, and she had been to the Fade -- this was not it. Impatient at the lack of an answer, she slammed her staff down on the ground. A bolt of flame shoots from the spot it hits, landing nearby in an explosion of sparks.

“I don’t have time for this!” She needed to find her brother, because nothing about this place made any sense.

Comments

[ladysunshines]

Bethany may have an advantage over Fenris. While the sight of the lyrium tattoos might have startled most other people, the sight of them -- and the elf that they're attached to -- actually makes her shoulders relax noticeably. The staff is moved easily from its offensive position to its place in her sling, and she immediately searches Fenris' face with her eyes, brows furrowed.

"Fenris," she starts, deciding against moving much closer to him than she is already (she knows he isn't exactly a fan of people invading his personal space), "How is it that that's possible?" She's never heard of a travelling spell, and she thinks she'd certainly remember if they'd left Kirkwall in the middle of the madness going on. His lack of greatsword is certainly puzzling, and she can't help but wonder if this isn't just some sort of elaborate illusion. She crosses her arms over her chest, though, and nods.

"Please, go ahead." She tries to let neither the anxiety nor concern leak too much into her voice. It wouldn't do to panic further, would it?

[scowls]

It isn't often that he witnesses a stranger relax upon seeing him. Though that little mystery is solved before it can take hold of him when she says his name. Fenris' brows furrow and he frowns slightly, more than a little confused now.

Is it possible that word of who he is has reached the Gallows? He knows Varric put him in a book, but this woman doesn't look like a haggard apostate wearing the same worn robes from when she fled the Circle. If she has come from Kirkwall as he remembers it, then the book hasn't been written yet. He wants to ask, but as her situation seems more pressing, he decides to attend to it first.

"There is a world called Wonderland," his lip curls as he says the word, clearly finding no wonder in it. "Magic exists here in abundance. It is that which brought you here. As it has brought others from Kirkwall." A normal man would stop here. Fenris just continues on. "I cannot claim that this world is free of danger, but I can say that there is no immediate thread to you now."

[ladysunshines]

Given that Fenris' default state of being is that mild furrow-and-frown, Bethany doesn't think too hard on it. His words hold much more interest to her for the moment, and she's frankly glad for the extra information that Fenris can provide about the lack of immediate threats ... even if she isn't entirely certain she should believe it. She tightens her own arms about herself, the pressure enough of a distraction to calm down her anxieties just a little.

Fenris has no reason to lie to her, she reasons, and there's something else that he says which catches her attention more than the idea of a place of abundant magic that isn't the Fade.

"Others from Kirkwall?" She steps forward at this point, still too wound-up to properly restrain herself entirely. "Who else has found themselves in this place? Garrett, Isabela...?" She finds herself studying his face again, eager to find out the answer.

[scowls]

Tension coils through him as she steps forward, his body instinctively preparing for an attack. He doesn't move, doesn't take his eyes off of her, but he is ready, the power of the lyrium thrumming beneath his skin, waiting to be activated.

And with so few words, she steals it from him. Garrett. Isabela. Fenris doesn't know the former but for a few words they've exchanged since his arrival, but he does know the latter. One version of her, anyway.

"Yes, if you refer to a Garrett Hawke." A note of uncertainty enters his voice when he says the name, though he doesn't linger upon it. "Isabela is here as well. Along with Anders and Carver. If there are others, I've not yet found them, though there are others from Thedas."

[ladysunshines]

He is not the only one who feels as if their readiness has been knocked off-balance. She scrambles to prioritize the names that he gives her, uncertain of exactly where to start until --

"Carver?" The name sounds almost foreign on her lips, for how often she's avoided saying it in the last few years, and she knows that her tone comes off as disbelieving as she feels about it. She shakes her head, countering her previous step forward with two back.

"That's impossible." And yet ... what else about this place was more possible than her dead brother somehow being here? That of all people in Thedas, Anders, a mage she'd seen executed right in front of her eyes, was here as well?

"Impossible," she repeats again, with less protest. She feels unsteady, moving her eyes off Fenris so that she can look for a nearby place to sit down.

[scowls]

Of all the names he might have said, that it is Carver's that gets the greatest reaction is both unexpected and bewildering. A Circle mage knows Carver? He's never mentioned her and yet by this woman's reaction, he is clearly someone of some importance.

Fenris watches as she backs away, making no move to follow. He understands the need for space after an upsetting revelation, though he continues to struggle to understand why this particular piece of news is so troublesome.

"I assure you it is not," he says quietly, his voice solemn without being ominous. "I know him quite well. He is Carver Hawke."

Fenris purses his lips, fidgeting now, feeling more and more out of his element. Reassurance is not his forte and he does not wish to offend someone important to one of the few—if not the only—friends he has. After a moment, he adds as gently as he can, "Do you know him?"

[ladysunshines]

The nearby grass proves itself a good enough spot for her to drop down. As Fenris continues, she's glad she's sitting down. Nothing about what he's saying makes sense, nor did the fact he didn't show any sort of real recognition for her as far as she could tell.

Her brows knit tightly together and she places one hand on her forehead. "Carver died before we ever reached Kirkwall, Fenris. How is it that you can know him well?" His question draws a sharp, disbelieving laugh from her.

"Know him? He's my brother!" Surely Fenris knew that. No matter how she'd sometimes avoided talking about Carver's death, for as guilty as she felt about it, she'd never outright pretended he never existed.

[scowls]

Once she seats herself, it occurs to Fenris that perhaps he might have approached this differently. At the very least, he might have guided her to a better place to sit. But he is so unaccustomed to social niceties now and quite frankly, he hadn't expected Carver's name to trouble her so.

Yet before he can apologize for his lack of manners, she names Carver her brother. His eyes widen in unconcealed surprise. "Brother? But you're not..." He trails off, studying her closely. Yet no matter how he narrows his eyes, she does not resemble Marian. Her hair is the same color and her accent is Fereldan, but she could hardly be Marian in disguise.

"That isn't possible. Bethany di—" His throat closes with a click before he finishes the word. Carver died before we ever reached Kirkwall, she'd said, and hadn't been about to say the same thing about Bethany. His jaw drops and he takes an involuntary step forward.

"It cannot be," he murmurs softly, voice a little awed. "No magic is strong to—Bethany? Are you Bethany Hawke?"

[ladysunshines]

"Maker's sake, Fenris, you know I am! Next you'll be asking me if I'm sure that I'm a mage and not just someone who's rigged fireworks to shoot out of a piece of wood!" She realizes belatedly that this is likely not the most lady-like, nor helpful, reaction to someone who she's always known to be, at the very least, reasonably helpful when it came to her family.

She frowns slightly. "I'm -- sorry. It's just that this is all a bit much for me to take in." One moment she'd been in a highly dangerous situation with a good portion of the city being reduced to ruins, and the next she'd found herself here.

[scowls]

"I see that you're a mage," he murmurs softly, startled and confused and slightly taken aback by her reaction. Not only that, but this is Carver's twin, a woman he's heard about in closely guarded, sparsely offered bits and pieces. He may not know her, but he knows in how high esteem she's held. "I..."

He shakes his head helplessly. He is not cut out for this kind of delicate conversation.

"I do not wish to overwhelm you, but things are different in this place. Time is different somehow. Things that happened in my experience may not be the same as those that occurred in yours." He takes a deep, slow breath, dragging his fingers through his hair. "Forgive me. I shall give you time to adjust before I tell you more."

[ladysunshines]

The last thing she wanted to do was make Fenris feel as if he was inadequate, and his apology lets her know that's exactly what she's done. Her frown deepens and she shakes her head hastily, dark curls falling over her eyes.

"No, you're -- only trying to help. It isn't your fault I don't understand, and I shouldn't be taking out my frustrations on you. It isn't fair." Not that this place seems to care much about things like fairness or reality, as far as she can tell.

"No need for me to be rude," she decides, determinedly pressing herself up from her seated position. His words echo in her mind: things that happened in my experience may not be the same as those that occurred in yours ...

"Am I to understand we haven't met, then, and that is part of where your time is different?"

[scowls]

It likely says something about his past—with Danarius, with Marian, and all the years after—that he simply looks at her a little blankly, as if the notion of fairness and how it relates to what people ought to do with respect to him is a foreign concept. He can't see how it matters.

"You are disoriented and upset," he waves away the idea that she's been rude. "Arriving here is no easy thing, especially when you do it alone. I do not think you rude."

That's both the most important point to address and the easiest. He doesn't know how to tell her that in his world, she never made it out of Lothering. He doesn't think he ought to be the one to do so.

"I... yes." He thinks he might have a way around it. "You mentioned Garrett Hawke. He did not exist in my world. A woman named Marian did, the eldest Hawke sibling. She was a mage, though unlike what Carver's told me of you, she was a blood mage. I never met you. You did not accompany the family to Kirkwall. But I heard stories of you from your brother."

[ladysunshines]

"Well then." She straightens herself up a little more firmly and then offers him her hand. "I'm Bethany Hawke, a member of the crumbling Kirkwall Circle, and I promise you that I am not a blood mage. And even if you don't think that I was being rude, being upset is just going to lead to me doing something silly."

It's at that point that his other words really hit her. She furrows her brows, listening to his words. Not only did she have a sister in his world, but she was a blood mage -- and probably someone who supported Anders' idiotic plan to destroy the Chantry, for that matter. Ugh. She pulls a face as if she's smelled something foul.

Something hits her rather suddenly, though.

"--is my mother alive where you're from?"

[scowls]

Glancing at her hand, Fenris takes it after a moment and offers her a very small, barely there smile. It's something of a monumental gesture, trusting a mage this much to reach out and voluntarily touch one, but he's heard too much about her not to be willing to at least try. "It's a pleasure to finally make your acquaintance," he says softly, feeling the prickle of her magic along the lyrium.

After an acceptably courteous moment, he releases her and steps back. The smile, such as it is, disappears at the mention of Leandra.

"No, I'm sorry. She was..." He doesn't want to be the one to tell her how Leandra was found. "She was killed by a mage. He's dead. All of his conspirators are dead, but we were too late to save Leandra."

[ladysunshines]

"I only hope I can live to be less intolerable than my siblings may have insisted I am."

She's glad at least that Fenris has heard enough of her (or so she presumes) to trust the handshake. There is an easy smile back, but as his words hit her fully, she lets out a breath of air and looks very much like she's deflated slightly.

"Ah," she nods, lips pursed for a moment, "Then you do not need to give me more details of her fate. It's the same where I'm from." So much for hoping that the place he'd been from was better, but since he'd said that her sister was a blood mage -- perhaps she should stop asking those sorts of questions. Time for a subject change!

"Has it been long since you've come to this place?" He seems to know more than she, so she presumes he's been around at least a bit longer.

[scowls]

He doesn't say that Carver's put her on a pedestal and speaks of her as if she's something too precious to be frequently discussed, as if by sharing too much of her memory with the world it will somehow diminish it. He doesn't say that he's all but certain that her absence is a wound that's never healed. He doesn't say a lot of things. It isn't his place.

Instead, he dips his chin in acknowledgement and focuses on less personal topics. Not the similarity of Leandra's fate. He doesn't wish to speak on that. Rather, his time here is an easier subject to broach. There are no emotional pitfalls into which he might inadvertently stumble.

"No," he shakes his head. "A few weeks, perhaps. Less than a month. I do not speak often with many of the others—" Understatement of the week. He hasn't spoken to any of them save Carver since his arrival. "—but I can show you where they're staying if you wish to contact them."

[ladysunshines]

For as much as they'd fought when they were younger, for as much as she'd known that it hurt Carver that she spent so much time with her father -- she'd be surprised to find that he put her on a pedestal. Perhaps not, though, since she'd found all those memories felt softer once she hadn't heard Carver's voice in years.

The shift in topic seems to be in both of their best interests, so she's more than glad to just follow its natural progression. Predictably, it isn't long until she hears something that's more than a little confusing to her. She's hesitant to bring it up outright, but...

"Not even Isabela?" She pauses. "Where I'm from -- you two were close. You tempered her well." Or they fed each others' vices, either way. "But -- yes, I would appreciate it."

[scowls]

Isabela? His brows knit and his lips thin into a confused frown as Fenris tips his head to the side. He was close with Isabela? Does she mean...? No, he decides a moment later, she can't possibly.

"Isabela and I were acquainted. Perhaps we might have been friends." He sounds unsure on that point, not because of his personal feelings toward Isabela, but because he still isn't quite certain how being friends works and he doesn't want to assume. "But the Arishok attacked the city and Hawke traded her to him for the qunari's departure from Kirkwall."

He shifts his shoulders in a shrug. "What happened to her, I can only guess, for I never saw her again. Not until I arrived here and met the Isabela of another world."

[ladysunshines]

Oh, she does mean that. She won't press the issue, though, all things considered.

"I can't imagine my brother doing that to someone he considered his friend. This Marian must be ..." she shakes her head. "I'm sorry. That you had to deal with her." She doesn't know much, but if she was a blood mage and someone who would give Isabela to the Arishok...

"Garrett dueled him," she says, opting to just clarify the worlds they come from as much as she can. "And won, obviously." What he says makes her think that Fenris at least got along with Isabela before everything that happened, so... "I'm sure she'd like to see you, even if it isn't the you that she's accustomed to." The Maker knew that she had been glad to see him.

[scowls]

Must be a monster, he thinks, filling in the end of that sentence. And it's true. She was. As confusing as all of this is, he's thankful that people he has never known appearing here is all he must deal with. He would rather the whole family, even Gamlen, than to be in Marian's presence again.

"I have been told that others hail from worlds far better than my own," Fenris tells her, tone generally neutral until he continues. Then it slips into a low tone of irritation. "Repeatedly."

It isn't her fault and he doesn't blame her for it, but it does wear on him to hear how much better everyone else has had it. Even those he knows fault their perfect worlds in his face. After a while, it grates.

His voice mellows again. "Perhaps in time. For the moment, acclimatizing myself to this world occupies much of my attention."

[ladysunshines]

She imagines it's probably the same thing she'd feel if she were told more than once that there was a world where her brother survived. She won't tell him that they're likely just trying to reassure him by telling him there are worlds where things work out; she can't argue with the way that he feels, after all.

"It isn't as if it's anything we can change. It must be frustrating."

She nods, opting to take the suggested subject shift to somewhere that would benefit them both in different ways. It's important information to know, so...

"I'd very much appreciate it if you shared what you've learned about this place with me. Perhaps you can help me avoid making too much of a fool of myself." There's a slight, fleeting smile.

[scowls]

Happy to let the subject of their worlds drop, Fenris nods in agreement. He doesn't have much to share about their prison, but what he knows, he'll share.

"I've not been here long enough to know much, but I will tell you what I can." And even the few people he's spoken with who have been here for a time seem not to have too much information. Or if they do, they haven't deigned to share it.

"We're given quarters there." He points over his shoulder toward the mansion. "As far as I know, we may alter them however we see fit. The closets are magical; if you request something from them, it will be provided. Though be cautious in how you word your request, else you might not receive what you actually want."

He starts to reach for his belt pouch, then remembers that he doesn't have the magical box with him. "We're also provided a small magical box that allows us to speak with one another at a distance. It's more complicated than that, there are other aspects of it I've yet to determine, but that seems the point of the thing."

[ladysunshines]

The idea of having to word her requests carefully elicits little more than intense curiosity from Bethany, as does the idea of a closet being able to produce that sort of complex magic in the first place. She lets her head cant to the side for a moment, trying to figure out how that might work.

"A magical box that allows us to speak to one another at a distance?" She pauses, scrunching her nose up in confusion. All these things sounded too surreal to be true, but Fenris really had no reason to lie to her (especially as she'd probably find out after a short time that he was lying). "Like some sort of eluvian?" That's the only thing she could think of, magically, that could allow any sort of distance transportation -- but that wasn't conversation, was it?

"Why would it deign it necessary to give us something like that? Or to give us anything at all, since it's taken us prisoner?"

[scowls]

He wouldn't call it an eluvian, exactly, though perhaps that's as close as they can come to something similar.

"Perhaps a very small eluvian," he concedes, then adds, not knowing if she's ever heard of such a thing, "Or one of the sending crystals the magisters use in Tevinter. It transmits our voices to one another and also our images. This particular device can also send words, though I've no idea what they say."

It's somewhat gratifying to hear his questions coming from her as well. It makes him feel a little less mad.

"I do not know. No one could give me an acceptable explanation when I asked. Whatever this place wants from us, it means to keep us comfortable while it takes it. I do not trust it."

[ladysunshines]

She isn't much of an expert on Tevinter out of a profound concern and fear of the darker sides of magic, but Fenris' explanation of them makes it clear enough what their purpose is.

"No, and you shouldn't." As she was sure that this Fenris knew as well as the one that she was acquainted with, a gilded cage was still a cage. They were still being held here against their wills, being fed on by some -- parasitic world. She pauses.

"Would it be too much trouble to accompany me to the living quarters? I think that's as good a place to start as any."