warden robyn cousland (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
heroica) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
entranceway2016-05-17 09:04 am
heroica) wrote in entranceway2016-05-17 09:04 am
➶ four (action & video)
[ The archdemon uttered a low, deep growl, collapsed and nearly dead, but not quite. Covered in gore and exhausted, the Warden had acted before thinking, dashing forward, all the while knowing an arrow would never be enough to take the life of a dragon, and instead grabbing a fallen warrior's blade from the ground as she went. The monster began to rise, snarling, its long, reptilian neck swaying as it watched her approach, but she never slowed, fearing her courage or energy might abandon her. It stretched out and roared, teeth bared, but she ducked beneath and traced the sword's edge along its exposed neck. Blood spilled overhead and behind her as the archdemon wailed, thrashing and then falling with an enormous crash nearby, finally defeated-- but, though the dragon had almost been ended, the soul would seek out another, and she drew ragged breaths in that final moment, shaking with adrenaline and fear.
Sacrifice. The word rang out in her mind in a dozen voices and she tried to picture the faces of all the people she'd fought with, all the people who hadn't made it to see this moment, before raising the borrowed weapon and driving it home in the skull of the leader of the darkspawn horde. A blinding light exploded before her eyes, the definitive sign that they'd succeeded, and she could just make out the sound in the distance of people calling out to her as that whiteness overtook her vision, blinding her, and then--
Blue. Robyn Cousland realizes her eyes are open again, staring up above at a clear, vast sky. She remains motionless for a long time, mind blissfully blank, but... dogged by a budding confusion. The Warden stretches her fingers and toes, wrinkles her nose at a very strange and unpleasant odor, shifts where she lies and winces as her joints crack. She's inexplicably lying in a garden, surrounded by flowers, likely crushing more than one of them. It's far from clear how she got here, or... where here even is, and eventually she's encouraged by curiosity to draw herself up to a seated position so that she can look around. The grounds with their lush hills and bubbling fountain aren't exactly familiar, but when her gaze falls on a looming mansion, her heart speeds up rapidly as if it had just woken up all at once. ]
Wonderland. [ She stares at it with her mouth now slightly agape. Wonderland, the strange place she'd been spirited to for... months, back before the Landsmeet, where she'd met... a handful of people from Thedas and even more from places more bizarre-sounding than Wonderland itself. She'd made friends and... likely enemies, she guesses, though their names and faces are still a little hazy. She'd met people who hadn't known her at all despite her memories saying otherwise. When she recalls those instances, particularly with Alistair and Morrigan, she recalls very sharply from where she'd just come and gets to her feet, albeit shakily. The off-putting scent had been the blood that covered her almost from head to toe mingled with the flowers she'd landed in, a smell nauseating in its combination. As such, she moves away from the gardens and to the fountain, sitting, weary, on its edge and washing off her face and hands. There is a room that, at one point, belonged to her inside the walls, and eventually she'll make her way there and bathe. There may be a mabari, too, who wasn't her hound from childhood, Calen, but Oren, named for her nephew.
It's all incredibly overwhelmingly, and on top of those new, old memories, she's still reeling from defeating the archdemon and-- dying. Robyn waits for the grief, which she remembers, now, so clearly from when Leliana had first warned her of her fate... but, it doesn't come. There's only a tired sort of resignation, the knowledge that the job had been done, and that this -- Wonderland -- is the only way to go forward with her life now.
The now rightfully-titled Hero of Ferelden lingers by the fountaion for a while, watching her reflecting idly, before moving inside to clean the tide of battle from her skin and armor. ]
[ It's many hours after she arrives in the gardens that Robyn remembers the network, that she thinks to pick up her device and to send out a message. She's freshly washed and no longer dressed for a fight, but when she does show her face, there's something distinctly different about it. Where she had just a week earlier seemed a little more the overeager girl, today she seems a great deal more Grey Warden than anything. ]
Greetings. [ Robyn speaks, tone crisp and polite, but almost distant, as if she's mentally somewhere else all throughout. ] I'm sorry if I... worried anyone. I've been told that I've only been gone a week, but as I suspect many of you know from experience, it was a little longer than that where I was.
[ She pauses, then scoffs faintly, shaking her head. ]
Well... to be honest, I couldn't say how much time passed. Maybe it wasn't so long after all. It felt like... ages.
[ Considering all that happened in Denerim with Howe, Loghain, the Landsmeet, and... the battle to follow. ]
I've come back unharmed. [ In case anyone had seen her earlier and was concerned about the amount of blood she'd been wearing. ] And... I hope the week has been kind.
[ Considering just before she'd left they had been tempted down into the Deep Roads, it's only fair that Wonderland let the lot of them off the hook every once in a while.
Robyn seems as if she's about too end the call, but she hesitates as something seems to come to mind. ]
Has... anyone seen my dog? I can only imagine what he may have been up to in the meantime...
( ooc ; feel free to encounter her during the action portion at any point in her return! )
Sacrifice. The word rang out in her mind in a dozen voices and she tried to picture the faces of all the people she'd fought with, all the people who hadn't made it to see this moment, before raising the borrowed weapon and driving it home in the skull of the leader of the darkspawn horde. A blinding light exploded before her eyes, the definitive sign that they'd succeeded, and she could just make out the sound in the distance of people calling out to her as that whiteness overtook her vision, blinding her, and then--
Blue. Robyn Cousland realizes her eyes are open again, staring up above at a clear, vast sky. She remains motionless for a long time, mind blissfully blank, but... dogged by a budding confusion. The Warden stretches her fingers and toes, wrinkles her nose at a very strange and unpleasant odor, shifts where she lies and winces as her joints crack. She's inexplicably lying in a garden, surrounded by flowers, likely crushing more than one of them. It's far from clear how she got here, or... where here even is, and eventually she's encouraged by curiosity to draw herself up to a seated position so that she can look around. The grounds with their lush hills and bubbling fountain aren't exactly familiar, but when her gaze falls on a looming mansion, her heart speeds up rapidly as if it had just woken up all at once. ]
Wonderland. [ She stares at it with her mouth now slightly agape. Wonderland, the strange place she'd been spirited to for... months, back before the Landsmeet, where she'd met... a handful of people from Thedas and even more from places more bizarre-sounding than Wonderland itself. She'd made friends and... likely enemies, she guesses, though their names and faces are still a little hazy. She'd met people who hadn't known her at all despite her memories saying otherwise. When she recalls those instances, particularly with Alistair and Morrigan, she recalls very sharply from where she'd just come and gets to her feet, albeit shakily. The off-putting scent had been the blood that covered her almost from head to toe mingled with the flowers she'd landed in, a smell nauseating in its combination. As such, she moves away from the gardens and to the fountain, sitting, weary, on its edge and washing off her face and hands. There is a room that, at one point, belonged to her inside the walls, and eventually she'll make her way there and bathe. There may be a mabari, too, who wasn't her hound from childhood, Calen, but Oren, named for her nephew.
It's all incredibly overwhelmingly, and on top of those new, old memories, she's still reeling from defeating the archdemon and-- dying. Robyn waits for the grief, which she remembers, now, so clearly from when Leliana had first warned her of her fate... but, it doesn't come. There's only a tired sort of resignation, the knowledge that the job had been done, and that this -- Wonderland -- is the only way to go forward with her life now.
The now rightfully-titled Hero of Ferelden lingers by the fountaion for a while, watching her reflecting idly, before moving inside to clean the tide of battle from her skin and armor. ]
[ It's many hours after she arrives in the gardens that Robyn remembers the network, that she thinks to pick up her device and to send out a message. She's freshly washed and no longer dressed for a fight, but when she does show her face, there's something distinctly different about it. Where she had just a week earlier seemed a little more the overeager girl, today she seems a great deal more Grey Warden than anything. ]
Greetings. [ Robyn speaks, tone crisp and polite, but almost distant, as if she's mentally somewhere else all throughout. ] I'm sorry if I... worried anyone. I've been told that I've only been gone a week, but as I suspect many of you know from experience, it was a little longer than that where I was.
[ She pauses, then scoffs faintly, shaking her head. ]
Well... to be honest, I couldn't say how much time passed. Maybe it wasn't so long after all. It felt like... ages.
[ Considering all that happened in Denerim with Howe, Loghain, the Landsmeet, and... the battle to follow. ]
I've come back unharmed. [ In case anyone had seen her earlier and was concerned about the amount of blood she'd been wearing. ] And... I hope the week has been kind.
[ Considering just before she'd left they had been tempted down into the Deep Roads, it's only fair that Wonderland let the lot of them off the hook every once in a while.
Robyn seems as if she's about too end the call, but she hesitates as something seems to come to mind. ]
Has... anyone seen my dog? I can only imagine what he may have been up to in the meantime...
( ooc ; feel free to encounter her during the action portion at any point in her return! )
[ Video ]
Robyn! Are you alright? Your mabari's currently with Dorian and I, he's been making friends while you were... missing.
[ Video ]
[ She images that Dorian is particularly pleased to have the hound staying with them. There's likely been a lot of drool involved. ]
There isn't anything wrong with my hand, though. [ The Warden remarks lightly, holding it up to show him, obviously referencing his own trip back to Thedas. ] Lucky me.
no subject
Would you like me to bring him to you or would you like to pick him up here?
no subject
[ Mabari are smart like that! He knows her voice, at the very least. ]
I hope he hasn't been any trouble for you. [ beat ] Or Dorian, though... I know how Dorian feels about dogs.
no subject
We'll come find you, then.
[ Because don't think he's not coming to see you in person, Robyn. He's been worried. ]
He's not been any trouble, just a little clingy. he's obviously missed you. Even Dorian didn't complain about it. [ Much. ]
no subject
You don't have to go to all that-- I can really come and get him. [ Dammit, Inquisitor. ] He just needs some attention and a week's worth of sweet-talking, that's all.
[ Video / Action ]
[ He gives her a grin, but he's still being stubborn about this. Besides, he's sure Oren can track her down and all he has to do is follow along.
Which is why he comes sauntering down the hall towards her a few minutes later, her mabari dashing excitedly along ahead of him. ]
See? Found you.
[ Action ]
That you did. [ Robyn admits, grudgingly. ] You could have found anyone with a mabari's nose.
[ More or less.
After a moment, she straightens up. Oren isn't pleased about the change and tries to get her attention by lying across her feet. ]
See? I'm just fine. [ She insists, crossing her arms. ] I'm glad to see you, of course, but you should have believed me.
no subject
[ It's said lightly, but Brennan has taken the time to study her while she gets reacquainted with her hound. Once she straightens up once more, he approaches again and, upon reaching her, abruptly drags her into a warm, solid hug. ]
You were missed.
no subject
I missed you, too. [ Robyn speaks quietly. ] I know that I didn't remember, but... I still did, I think. I refuse to believe I'll ever just forget all of you.
[ When they part, she rises to the tips of her toes to plant a kiss on his cheek. ]
Have you been well? ... Did I already ask?
no subject
As do I. But you're back now, and remember all again? [ He searches her face, as if to read more into that. ] And I am well enough. Recovering still, but much better than when you departed. How was your visit home? Unpleasant too, I'm guessing?
no subject
[ Really, Robyn is just hoping the anchor hadn't somehow flared up again in the same way that it had... what, months ago? How long had it been? ]
Unpleasant. [ The Warden confirms with a thin smile. ] To say the least. I was brought here directly from an enormous battle in Denerim.
[ The Battle of Denerim, as history would (will) remember it. ]
no subject
Yes, it's been calm. The Anchor's remained dormant, thank the Maker. At this point I have to assume that coming back to Wonderland interrupted its spiralling out of control - at least until I return home again.
[ And he already knows what awaits him there.
Her admission as him turning more serious again, searching her face. ]
The archdemon?
no subject
The archdemon was there. [ Robyn confirms, avoiding the larger question. ] A massive dragon, terrifying, tearing through our forces with claws and fire. [ She can still hear the sounds of alarmed, pained, dying screams ringing in her ears. ] I've seen it in nightmares, but to have it there in the sky in reality is - was - the true nightmare.
no subject
His expression is serious as she explains, and he reaches out to squeeze her hand lightly. ] I imagine so. I'm sorry you had to face it at all. The High Dragons can be terrifying enough, but an Archdemon, one with the intelligence and drive of the Taint behind it? [ There'd been menage and danger enough in the darkspawn he'd encountered; combining that with one of the greatest beasts their world has ever known.... ] It takes 'terrifying' to a whole new level.
no subject
[ They're unique. Cursed. Like the Grey Wardens that fight them, separated forever from other people. ]
Denerim was in flames. [ She continues quietly. ] The attack was so sudden... many of our forces weren't there soon enough.
no subject
I'm sorry. I've heard stories of the Battle of Denerim, but I'm sure they still don't do it justice, or encompass the experience of actually being there, of fighting your way through her streets.
no subject
[ Maybe after death, somehow, she won't have to dwell. Isn't that what the afterlife is about? Happiness? ]