2nd Blight - video

[bryces_pup]

Who: Riona and you!
Broadcast: Yes
Action: On the Blue Fish, if you really want
When: Now

[The device is propped up somehow on Riona's bed. It affords a view of her stretched out on said bed, fiddling with a long knife that she picked up on the station. It's sheathed, and she seems to be doing it just to occupy her hands. Don't worry, she's not about to go around threatening anyone with it.
She glances over at the camera and offers a smile.]

It occurred to me this morning that it's been approximately a month since I arrived here. Admittedly, it's put me in a bit of a contemplative mood. Been thinking of the usual: what I'm supposed to be doing right now back home, the people I left behind, my dog...

[She misses his slobbery kisses...]

But fear not, I'm not here to weigh everyone down with me waxing nostalgic and pining for home. As while I was doing that, it also occurred to me that I've learned quite a bit in the few weeks I've been here. Not just about all this technology and whatnot - though I am of the mind that refrigerators are one of the loveliest things ever invented - but with what I've been able to experience and, of course, the people I've been able to meet. Before anyone goes off, I'm not applauding Atroma. They're still a bunch of bastards. It's more like making the best of a... well, weird situation.

So I pose a question to you all: if there is one thing you could take back with you to your world - whether it's a physical object, an experience, a bit of knowledge you've gained, or so on - what would it be? Feel free to take the question as seriously or not as you'd like. I'm curious to see what all of you would be willing to take from our time here.

Comments

[killedwithlove]

It's a magic elven mirror. Solas would probably tell me that's not what it is, but it is what it is.

[He looks at the screen briefly and then elsewhere.]

Hello. I never really knew manners to forget them.

[bryces_pup]

[...Huh. Well, Riona's no elven magic expert, so she takes his word for it.] I see. And it provides some mean of transport?

Nice to meet you. And really? You seem well-mannered enough to me, for what it's worth.

[killedwithlove]

[He shrugs a little.]

Yes? Solas said the old elven empire used them to move from city to city in heartbeats.

Oh. Thank you. I'm learning! Please is important. So is thank you.

[bryces_pup]

Oh, wow! [That is so damn convenient and extremely useful.] And that's... I remember learning about Arlathan and Elvhenan, a little. [Aldous used to teach her bits of elven history when the mood struck him, or if she begged enough.] I know all of its cities were scattered in remote corners. That would explain how they got around.

[Still doesn't explain how Tevinter sacked the whole place. ANYWAY.]

Yes they are. [He seems a little old to be learning about manners just now, but she doesn't know his story, so who's she to judge?] They're a good place to start.

Where in Thedas are you from? I can't quite place your accent.

[killedwithlove]

I didn't really pay as much attention as I should have when they were discussing it, but there was a baby crying and I had to go and help them settle her. They didn't understand she was sore in her shoulder from her trip in the sling.

[Cole hums and rocks back and forth.]

Cole's father was from the foothills of the Anderfells and his mother was Avvar. I came through at the White Spire, in Val Royeaux, but it was never Cole's home, just his prison. Rhys lived there, but his mother, Wynne, was from Fereldan.

[bryces_pup]

[...Cole will have to give Riona a long moment to process all of that. The bit with the baby had her confused enough as is, but the rest really threw her. So she'll just stare and blink for a moment, trying to understand it and replay that in her head to see if she missed something, because...

What?

Wynne's name, however, is the most pressing point to her.]

So. I'm a little... confused about a few things, but firstly: you know Wynne? [And this Rhys was her child? Wynne had told Riona about that, but never mentioned a name or anything. Then again, she doubted Wynne had a say in the matter.]

[killedwithlove]

I met her and Faith. She came to ask Rhys to help her research, because she needed a spirit medium and Rhys is one and then Lambert told the pretty templar to go with them and if their research had found anything, she was to kill them all, so I went with them to stop her hurting Rhys, but she didn't hurt anyone who didn't deserve it.

We went into the Fade. There was an Archdemon, and Horror, but then we came out and everyone could see me and Pharamond became a person again.

The golem came with us some of the way, but then she left because Wynne asked her to take a message to the Divine.

[He... sadly doesn't make much more sense when he's explaining.]

[bryces_pup]

[DANG IT, COLE.

Right. Okay. There is still so much to ask but they'll be here all day if she pesters for every detail explained. She'll try and stick to the important stuff.]

You... must be from the future. Or a time ahead of me, I should say. Wynne traveled with me during the Fifth Blight; I feel like she would have mentioned this research. Or, if nothing else, seeing an Archdemon in the Fade. Which, I don't even know how that's possible. [Does the Archdemon go into the Fade when it's slain? But, no, that can't be. Morrigan... inherited the soul, so that shouldn't be possible.] And golem? Do you mean Shale?

[Cole is beginning to strike her as... not entirely human. What he has revealed so far points to something else, but she decides not to ask. For now.]

[killedwithlove]

[He hums again, pulling up his knees to hug them and ducking his head, vanishing behind a shield of legs and hat.]

Yes. Ten years after the Blight. It was there because Wynne carries it with her, in the memories of her fight, in the stench of death and blasts of heat that bring it back.

Shale... yes, Shale. 'It should remember it is a meatbag and I am stone.'

[His impression of Shale's tone and accent is quite good.]

[bryces_pup]

[Ten years? Holy-]

I understand a little better now. [She laughs a little at his impression of Shale.] That does sound like her. She always had to point out that we are squishy creatures.

[She pauses, unsure as to how exactly to word her next question.]

Forgive me for any offense here, but... are you human? Some of what you've said about yourself is a little... odd. When I asked where you were from, you talked about yourself in the third person. Like Cole was someone else.

[killedwithlove]

Squishy meatbags.

[It had stuck with him, because Shale was... very not like anyone else.]

Oh, no. I'm a spirit. Not an abomination, a spirit. I thought I was Cole, but I'm not, I'm me. I'm Cole now, but not the same Cole. He was an apostate. Hedge mage. I don't have magic like that.

[bryces_pup]

[Maker, she misses that snarky golem so damn much.

She carefully listens to Cole's explanation, brow furrowing ever further as he talks. Her mind is trying to piece it together, what he's saying now and what he said earlier.]

You said you came through the Fade at the White Spire? And that's where you met the... original Cole? How did you come to be him, if you're not possessing him?

[Her time with Wynne taught her that not all spirits are bad, and that an "abomination" doesn't have to be a rampaging monster. Still, she's a little confused as to how this Cole came to be, then.]

[killedwithlove]

Um... Cole was dying. He was alone and scared and suffering and I came through to help him. The only way to help him was to be there with him, hold his hand, reassure him he wasn't alone and I would remember him.

Then it... I don't know.

[He hugs his legs tighter.]

It's confusing. He died and I thought I was him. I think he left through me. I remember being Cole. But I remember being Compassion as well, now.

[bryces_pup]

[He's looking more and more uncomfortable, at least to Riona. So she smiles as gently as she can and nods.]

That does sound pretty confusing, but I believe you. I'm sorry if I pushed too much and it's uncomfortable to talk about.

[killedwithlove]

[He vanishes behind his hat again.]

I just don't really remember it. Not when I became him. It was very confusing.

I nearly lost myself. My first self. And I had lost a lot of Cole as well. But that was a while ago.

I want people to know I'm not an abomination. I'm not in anyone else's body, it's all mine. I made it!

[bryces_pup]

[Something unheard of happened with him and Cole. That's what Riona's going to chalk it up to, anyway. Clearly he has no idea what transpired, either.]

I can only imagine. I believe what you say. [It's hard to explain why she does. He radiates a sincerity she can't deny, even as odd as his tale is.] But even if you were an abomination, that doesn't necessarily mean you're a monster. You met Wynne; you know.

[killedwithlove]

[Unheard of pretty much sums it up. No one knows how it happened, only that it did.]

Faith didn't make Wynne hurt Rhys. She did that all on her own. Justice forgets what stops it being Vengeance because Justice knows only Justice, but a person knows more.

I didn't like Wynne much, but I didn't want anything bad to happen to her, even when I was Despairing.

[bryces_pup]

[Sadly, Riona's not far enough along in the timeline to know about Justice. Otherwise, Cole would be getting peppered with many very concerned questions about that.

Instead, he'll get a lot in regards to Wynne.]

Wait, Wynne hurt Rhys? Her own son? Why would she do such a thing? She can be a difficult woman at times, but I can't imagine her doing that.

[killedwithlove]

Yes. Deeply. He respected her as a mage. He didn't really know her except as a mage, that woman in another circle who achieved things.

She only wrote when she wanted something. She said she wanted to get to know him, but she didn't. She wanted a spirit medium to help her research into undoing Tranquility.

[bryces_pup]

[...Damn it, Wynne. Riona sighs heavily at the information, rubbing a hand over her face.]

Wynne never talked about her child much, or how she felt about it. He was taken from her immediately, so it's not entirely her fault, but... That doesn't excuse how she treated him - or will treat him, where I'm standing. I wish I could offer some explanation for her behavior, but I really can't. Though, Wynne does tend to distance herself from things if they're painful or uncomfortable.

[killedwithlove]

I know why she did what she did. But she thought about herself, not her child. Parents should think of their children first, shouldn't they? Mothers should put their children first.

She could have gone with him. She could have visited, written, done anything. But she chose not to. I get why. I don't have to like that.

[bryces_pup]

No, you don't have to like it. I certainly don't. She should have considered him, too, and it irks me because I thought Wynne better than that. [Riona hates thinking ill of her friend, but she did something wrong and it's not okay.]

Will Rhys be okay? [She doubts she'll ever get to meet him, but still, she hopes Wynne's actions haven't caused too much damage.]

[killedwithlove]

When I last heard of him, he was happy with Evangeline and Faith. They were helping the Inquisition somewhere in Fereldan.

I haven't seen Rhys since the start of the rebellion. He doesn't want to see me anymore.

[bryces_pup]

[...oh Maker, what rebellion?]

That's very unfortunate. I'm sorry, Cole. Was there a falling out?

[killedwithlove]

We both found out I was a demon and he thinks I made him kill people for the blood to keep me in this world. I didn't! I wouldn't. I did kill people, I thought I was helping them end their suffering.

I haven't seen him since then. But Cadash has exchanged letters with him and Cullen spoke to him and Evangeline.