➶ four (action & video)

[heroica]

[ 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! )

Comments

[heroica]

No wonder you got along so well with Morrigan. [ Robyn teases affectionately, chuckling. ] She was always so angry with me when we stopped to do things not exactly part of our mission. We recruited the Dalish armies, you know, but there was a woman there with a sick halla, and... well, that's only one example, but I have a hard time walking away from things like that, apparently.

[ It's a miracle she'd become as close to the apostate as she had, honestly, after all that. ]

They're powerful weapons to be feared by all darkspawn. [ She agrees gravely. ] We catapulted him toward the hordes and the archdemon in Denerim, actually, and his fire-breathing was the tactic that turned the tide of the entire battle.

[ If only!! ]

[circlejerked]

I'm not so sure she'd agree with you...

_{["Getting along" may have been a stretch on Morrigan's part. "Tolerate" sounds closer to the mark.]}

But that's what we mages are here for, to complain about our sore feet while you troop us around. And cast a barrier every so often.

_{[The image of Oghren being shot into the middle of horde like a redheaded cannonball earns a grin.]}

Huh! Oghren really is a war hero! I underestimated the old boy. Now that I would pay to see.

[heroica]

Neither am I. [ Robyn laughs, then, thinking of Alistair and Morrigan bickering. Surely Anders and she would get on better. They at least have the magic in common? ] I would happily vouch for you, though, for whatever that's worth.

[ He's a friend here and she had been close (as close as one could be) to Morrigan in Ferelden. It's worth a try, isn't it? If she ever reappears? ]

You sound entitled to a foot rub, if you ask me. [ Not that she's any good at that, or... has gotten any for herself. Mostly, she dips them into local streams and rivers and stays there for a while. ] I don't suppose your Warden-Commander would allow you that?

[ It's a funny image, at least. ]

Best to stay out of war-torn Denerim, if you ever have the choice. [ Robyn says delicately. ] Oghren was brilliant, but it isn't anywhere you should choose to be, let alone pay to be.

[circlejerked]

That's so sweet. _{[Aw, you're giving him the warm and fuzzies, Warden.]} On both counts. I'll have to consider petitioning him when I get back, though I think you've earned the foot rub, not me.

_{[He chuckles at the warning about Denerim, not because he doesn't appreciate the concern with which it's given, but because the capital hadn't been the safest even before the Blight and the civil in-fighting.]}

I've visited a while ago. Beautiful city. With time, I can only hope it'll be that way again.

_{[Maybe when the dust settles and it's safer he'll see it again. But as they say, you make plans and the Maker laughs.]}

[heroica]

We could all use it, with the traveling we've seen. Across worlds! Not many in Thedas could make that claim, could they?

[ Other than their companions who'd been drawn into Wonderland alongside them. ]

Beautiful. [ Robyn echoes, but like Anders, she knows too much of the less appetizing parts of Denerim that had existed before the darkspawn even appeared. The mess in the alienages, assassination plots, rampant crime, and everything in between. ] But, they can rebuild. Fereldans are resilient.

[ If anything. And stubborn. ]

[circlejerked]

Good point. But I wish we'd have gotten a say in the matter. I always wanted to travel, but this... is a bit much. And you've been there and back twice already.

<sub>[If her memories hold true, anyway. Wonderland's penchant for manipulating memories has long made Anders wonder if people remember more about their trips home than they think they do and those moments have been pulled out or blocked in their memory.

Doubtful that's a mystery either of them will solve today, and Robyn probably needs her rest and time to gather herself. Walking off the tail end of a Blight and then walking off a trip across the multiverse is on the high end of stressful. In fact, the stress scale's probably broken.]</sub>

They are at that. And if we can survive darkspawn, we can survive this.

[heroica]

I've only gone back the once. [ She corrects. ] I arrived last Matrinalis and returned to Thedas only one time since.

[ To experience the Landsmeet through the end of her life. Her stomach turns slowly, uncomfortably. ]

We can. [ She's acutely aware of the irony and tries as much as she can to keep it from her expression. ] ... Thank you, Anders.

[circlejerked]

Journeying here twice is nothing to sneeze at. Something powerful has to be at work to keep drawing people into this realm.

_{[She isn't precisely bouncing off the walls with joy to find herself alive and well in this prison again. He can't blame her.]}

Cheer up! You can call yourself a multi-world traveller now.

[heroica]

The Core. [ The Warden speaks softly, almost with wonder in her voice. She's heard so much of it, after all, and not seen it. The rumor is that you lose memories if you do, and she can't risk that. ]

I'll add it to my qualifications. [ She giggles, grateful for his optimism. ] ... I may leave for now, but I hope we'll speak again soon.

[circlejerked]

So goes the rumor.

<sub>[And if it also powers the random appearances and disappearances, that's good enough reason to keep it in their sights. Knowing the archdemon is no longer threatening Ferelden must be a relief, but Robyn's probably tired of being flung about between worlds like a hand-me-down shirt that Wonderland can't decide whether it wants to throw away or keep.

He nods understandingly.]</sub>

Sure thing. Go on, you should settle in, take a load off. I'll be around.

[heroica]

Thank you. [ She won't be 'taking a load off,' though, as much as she'll be fretting about what's just happened in Ferelden. ] And if you ever need anything... I would love to return the favor. You do too much for me without my having offered at least once.

[ It's the very least she can do for another Warden. For a friend. ]

[circlejerked]

_{[As much as Anders appreciates the offer of an unconditional favor (hey, he won't look a gift horse in the mouth), he can't resist laughing. She's far too generous for her own good.]}

Wait until I've done something and then we'll see. But I appreciate the thought. I might take you up on it one day.

_{[He might make puppies explode out of his closet next and need another set of hands again. The possibilities are endless.]}