001: Happy New Year!

[stabsbothways]

Who: Isabela and YOU
Broadcast: Unsuspecting Fleetwide Broadcast
Action: Hospitality Wing, Marsiva
When: January 1st!

[ Everything is wrong. The air: the smell, the temperature, the lack of breeze. Her bed: leathery but not, cold, sterile. She jolts awake and is assaulted with light. The light is wrong. It's too bright, it's too distributed, it's the wrong color. She can't help but swear in the most serious and dire way she knows how. ]

Maker be fucked.

[ She steps unsteadily onto a floor made of alien material, her boots making an audible sound as they make contact.

She's got her armor on but- no, her daggers are gone. No grenades, no bombs. Even her poisoned hairpin is gone. ]

Hello?

[ She starts to wander, looking at strange blinking lights and confusing surfaces which- she knows how to use? What even?? She moves to one console and finds that she can understand the language onscreen, and knows how to navigate the interface. ]

Comments

[wolfuncaged]

[That cements a horrible thought in his mind. He knows he dies in one version of Thedas...perhaps Isabela is from that one? Worse, perhaps she's from another version of Thedas. Either way, he comes up dead, and he doesn't like it one bit. ]

I'm not dead, Isabela.

[Just...putting that out there, as much for his own benefit as hers. ]

This is...another world. You've been brought here from Thedas.

[stabsbothways]

[ Okay, well, now she was confronted with trying to figure out which of these options was the least likely and/or likable. This was a taste test between shit and vomit. ]

Well, I don't like the sound of that at all.

[ Understatement of the age. ]

[wolfuncaged]

[He lets out a soft exhale. He understand Isabela. Not fully, he doubts anyone has that skill, but he understands her better than most. He knows how she feels about being caged- and he knows she'll take the idea of being here for the entertainment of others even less palatable. ]

You'll like it much less, I'm afraid.

[But he also knows not to lie to her. He doesn't sugar coat anything, after all. He doubts she'd appreciate the kid gloves, anyway. ]

This is...a lot to take in, I understand. I will explain anything as best I can. You have been taken by a group called Atroma- you are currently on board their ship, which travels through the stars. In a few days, they will release you, and you will be sent to one of the ships that were are aboard. Then at least, you are free to move about more.

[stabsbothways]

[ She feels like she's falling. He says all this matter-of-factly, like escaping is out of the question. That these 'Atroma' are out of touch. That this is what will happen, no 'unless we do something about it' in the equation.

Fenris is no pushover. He's tasted freedom, he would die before being caged again. He did. So her new vomit and shit choice here was one of two possibilities. The first was that this Fenris was a figment; another demon in human shape, trying to coax her into accepting a fate she wouldn't- couldn't ever accept.

The second possibility- ]

You're not Fenris.

[ She couldn't breathe. ]

You're not. He's dead.

[ The second possibility was- ]

He's DEAD!

[ She punches the screen. She needs his face to go away. But this is no glass she's ever seen. She cries out on the impact, she might have broken a knuckle with that punch. But she doesn't stop. She smashes her communicator against the screen, once, twice. She hurls it in anger and just half-stumbles away from it, trying to escape. ]

[wolfuncaged]

[Well, there it was, out in the open. Maker, he hopes she's from Adalwolfe's version of Thedas and he isn't just drumming up worlds where he's very dead in them. It's starting to become a concern. He exhales, pinching the bridge of his nose. ]

Fasta vass, Isabela, calm down.

[As impulsive moves go, not even he tried to punch the screen when he arrived. Though he did try to rip his augment out and that was quite frankly a mistake. Still, it would be easier to calm her down face to face, but Atroma won't give him that yet, so on the communicators it must be.]

Look. There is a lot to explain, and most of it will sound insane. I promise you I'm not dead.

[A pause, then he carefully puts a girder in her train of thought just in case it goes that way.]

Nor am I a demon. At all.

[stabsbothways]

[ Shut up shut up shut up

She paces around the perimeter of the large open deck, seeing no discernible doorway until she gets to the hallway leading to the medical ward. A brief (horrified) visit there and then back to the main room.

She can still hear Fenris and opts to ignore him, instead electing to start picking up whatever isn't nailed down and throwing it at other things as loudly and catastrophically damaging as possible. ]

[wolfuncaged]

[Well. This is going pretty terribly.

Fenris listens to her smashing the place up, and lets out an annoyed exhale. Keeping their motley crew from breaking everything is Aveline's job, not his. He's not equipped to deal with this kind of thing. ]

When you're done, I will explain more of our situation.

[stabsbothways]

How charitable.

[ She's still ignoring him. Except for the part where she just talked back to him, but that doesn't count.

She picks up something as big as she can and throws it against the large glass window that leads to space. It breaks, leaving the observation window unphazed. ]

[wolfuncaged]

[SWEET MAKER ISABELA DON'T DO THAT, THAT KILLS PEOPLE!!! ]

That is unwise. Unless you want to be sucked into the void of space and die.

[stabsbothways]

If you don't want me to do it, try not to phrase it so seductively.

[ Maybe she did want to be sucked into space and die. ]

Why, what's out there?

[wolfuncaged]

I'll do my best to avoid that in the future.

[That dry sarcasm is very much Fenris. ]

Stars, empty space, planets. The part that should concern you however is the lack of air to breathe.

[stabsbothways]

So what, all the stars a floating in a sea above the sky?

[ ...not actually the weirdest thing she's heard. ]

[wolfuncaged]

I- not exactly, but near enough. Regardless, you will absolutely die if you make a hole in the window- so please resist the urge,

[stabsbothways]

[ She sits down. This is exhausting in a way that goes way beyond physical. ]

You're definitely not a demon? That's what a demon would say, you know.

[wolfuncaged]

[Good. Sitting down is a good start. She's less liable to get herself hurt. ]

No. Frankly, I'm insulted by the insinuation.

[stabsbothways]

"Oh dear, what an error I've committed. Will you demand satisfaction?" The banter came easily; it was familiar and comforting, and it would be so much easier just to believe Fenris. To find relief and joy in seeing him again.

She had tried to distance herself from the emotions of his death; he had literally brought it upon himself, opposing Hawke like that. There was no point in grief, and besides... she was good at convincing herself that people didn't matter that much to her. That she didn't get attached.

[wolfuncaged]

[That gets a chuckle out of him. This is better. Familiar. Less deeply concerning that she'll do something she regrets. ]

So long as it doesn't involve your knives. The last time was rather uncomfortable. And pointy.

[stabsbothways]

Lucky for you, I don't have them.

[ Someone stole them. She needed to get them back. ]

I'm good at improvising though. Maybe I can find a sharp stick.

[wolfuncaged]

Yes, they take our weapons when we arrive. If you are lucky, you might be able to convince someone to craft you something.

[stabsbothways]

[ The least important thing they take, honestly. ]

So I'm just supposed to... wait?

[wolfuncaged]

I am afraid so. Things will be easier once you are transferred to a ship. Until then, I am afraid you have to wait it out. Nothing you enjoy, I know.

[stabsbothways]

I feel like I'd prefer to be sucked out of the window.

[wolfuncaged]

You'd only come back anyway. With the few deaths we've had here, they've all come back.

[stabsbothways]

When you say 'no escape' you really mean it.

[wolfuncaged]

Unfortunately. You know I don't use those words lightly.

[He hates it just as much. ]

One day, we may find a way to overturn those who have captured us for the amusement of others. But until then, we are...stuck.

[He's already raged and fought against it, just like he did when he woke up in Exsilium. Neither time has done him much good. ]