exsiliumlogs | find there's no need to hide

Entry tags:

find there's no need to hide

Date & Time: Forward-dated to January 4th or 5th.
Location: The mountains outside of Exsilium.
Characters: Elissa and Loki.
Summary: Elissa goes exploring on her own and finds someone's humble abode. Things don't go so well.
Warnings: None for now!

It became increasingly obvious as the trip continued that Elissa hadn't been exploring or walking great distances in months.

Back in Thedas and Ferelden proper, she hardly ever took the time to pay for horses on her journeys. Everywhere she went, she walked. The year she spent with her friends fighting the Blight had them roughing it in all manner of weather, hardly ever spending time in towns unless there was some great need to halt their progress. Her time in Amaranthine as Commander softened her; though there were long marches, she oftentimes had a bed to return to after some days or weeks of travel, comfort behind stone walls and food at the table. Since then, she'd wandered alone, but her arrival in Exsilium served to make her complacent again. She'd longed for a real stretch of her legs and oftentimes contemplated leaving the city...only to talk herself out of it. Not this time, though.

She did not try to use one of the Initiative's vehicles. She didn't understand them enough to make an attempt. Instead, she walked, and the steady burn in her legs after two days of almost non-stop travel was a reminder of how she had fallen out of shape. But there was freedom and familiarity in the open, traveling alone with her mabari hound, scraping off of the land and eating whatever she'd brought or what she could hunt. She reached the mountains on the third day and took her time trying to delve over the stones, mindful of the dog she traveled with. But it didn't take her long to spot the ruins of some sort of structure which she gladly made her way towards, if only to have some kind of shelter before it became too dark.

It was an old castle by the looks of it, long since abandoned and allowed to decay. The doors hardly stayed where they were on their hinges and the great hall opened up to the sky, shedding light on the dilapidated pieces of old stone and the moss that grew over the old statues. It was a beautiful sight...and also very sad. She'd grown up in a castle not unlike the one she stepped into and she was disappointed to see that it had been allowed to fall apart. But then, with the war and the world itself being so far in the future, she should not have been surprised.

With care, she closed the front doors (though she needn't have bothered, considering the state of the structure) and stepped further inside, Atticus sniffing around at whatever he could find. "Stay close, boy," she murmured, pulling down the hood of her cloak. She brushed her hair back and cast her eyes around. "Let's see if we can find one of the inner rooms so we can settle for the evening." The dog barked, pleased with this arrangement. But first thing's first: she needed some light.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

Loki was lying across his throne and waving his hands through the air as he levitated a green orb over his stomach. Images danced across its curved surface of the mortals going about their lives out in the city. Here was someone going to work, there was someone sitting outside his car and talking a woman who might have been his wife. Nowhere was there any entertainment.

Loki sighed and waved his hands again, the orb flickered and returned to his castle, showing him the ruins of the curtain walls and the crumbling spires that loomed above them. He was about to move on to the next vision when movement caught his eye in the barbican.

Someone was closing the doors.

For a moment he felt rage that anybody would dare intrude upon his lair, but the feeling passed and was replaced by a cruel amusement. Perhaps, while he searched for entertainment, entertainment had come to him.

His voice spoke into the orb.

"Awaken, Reaver, I think it is time to greet our guest..."

---

In the barbican a shadow lurched with a loud, mechanical bang. The sound rattled the walls, lifting a cloud of ancient dust into the air and causing rubble to clatter down from the ceiling.

Looming, now, above the ruins of the barbican was a machine, nearly forty feet tall, blocking the fading daylight that poured through the dilapidated roof. At one time it had been one of Luminada's robots, but something had warped it. With eyes that seemed both mad and soulless it reached into the ruins for for Elissa.

Edited 2013-01-02 02:15 (UTC)

She couldn't find any torches and she realized she shouldn't expect to. Anything here would be outdated, incapable of true use. She would need to try and find wood and a fireplace if she hoped to build a fire. Hopefully, there would be something she could find in place of true wood; she couldn't chop down trees or make use of anything in that sense. Not here, not with the lack of supplies she had.

Elissa stopped when a shadow crossed over the opening in the ceiling, drawing her attention. Her eyes widened when her sight adjusted to what she was seeing, and she quickly moved back into the safety of the structure, Atticus barking in alarm. She turned and made a run for it, the metal hand nearly brushing her as she went.

"Go boy, go!" she yelled, the dog running with her as she took safety further into the building, hopefully putting some good distance between them and the machine.

Loki grinned into the orb and snapped his fingers.

Outside the castle the Reaver ceased its attack and returned to a resting position. Within the castle, the second gate slammed shut behind Elissa with a grim note of finality.

Before her was the lower bailey of what had once been the castle of a wealthy lord. Spires and structures rose around it, black against the sky. While much of the ruins looked like any other old castle, the keep and the buildings surrounding the main bailey appeared to have been built at a later time, by someone who had been sinking deep into paranoia and psychosis.

There did not seem to be anything animate around Elissa and Atticus, but there was a chill wind that blew through the towering cypresses, some of which resembled hands, others of which resembled rocks, none of which resembled trees.

As they progressed further into the bailey, small flames suddenly lit up along the torch sconces of the interior of the curtain wall.

With the gate slamming shut behind her and her adversary suddenly quieting, Elissa began to realize the trouble she'd stumbled upon. There was nothing to do for it, though; she'd put herself into this mess and she would find a way out. It was just going to be a matter of time. Her hound whined at her feet and she scratched his ears as she continued forward, down into the bailey of the castle.

It wasn't a friendly sight in the slightest, spires reaching upward and the rest of the castle looking just as uninviting, the darkness making it even harder for her to see in the fading light. Every step was calculated, her eyes searching in the dim for traps or enemies, nimble senses hardly failing her before.

Flames sprung to life and she turned, hand on one of the blades fitted at her back. Nothing attacked, though she held her grip on the sword, turning to take stock of the sights now visible. The decor was frightening, showing signs of a lingering evil that had once inhabited the castle. It was not at all like her home or even Denerim's Fort Drakon, though the latter sported many surprising atrocities in its depths.

She looked for any door she could use, finding one off to the side. It would lead deeper still into the castle, but it was her only option for the moment.

The door opened into a dark corridor, the only light coming from the fading twilight still streaming through the cracks in the walls.

Suits of armor, now rusted with decay and barely standing slouched against the stones on either side of the door. They had been placed there as decoration long after actual use of armor went out of practice.

Green light erupted from behind the visor of the suit to Elissa's left and a voice spoke from within it with a tinny echo.

"Halt, mortal. What brings you to this place?"

Her steps were measured and always careful, though she frowned at the lack of light in the hall beyond. Fighting or running in the almost-dark would do her no favors. She ran a hand over her mabari's back to remind him to stay close, afraid that if she went too far she may stray into more trouble, as before.

The voice had her turning, nearly pulling her blade out of its scabbard. Atticus growled, taking two steps back to ready himself. Elissa cast a skeptical look at the green light.

"I sought shelter and little else, Messere. I am here exploring the outlands. I don't mean any harm." She wasn't going to steal anything, after all.

The light within the ancient armor flickered silently, as if some unseen entity were taking a moment to consider Elissa's words.

A moment later and it blinked out as suddenly as it had appeared. Further down the hall another light flared up, this time in the center of the corridor. It stretched towards the ceiling and an image of a dining hall appeared within it, rippling like bullseye glass.

She watched it without fear, never backing away, not even as the light winked out and the armor stilled once more. Atticus straightened, ears perking up. He sniffed at the armor as if to consider what had just transpired.

Elissa turned as another light appeared from behind her and she cautiously approached, curiosity overwhelming her. She stared in both surprise and wonderment at the image she was faced with, the magic unlike anything she had ever seen before. Hesitantly, she stretched out a hand and glossed her fingers over the image, small ripples dancing off from each point the digits touched. She marveled at it before drawing her hand away for a moment.

With a strengthening breath, she brought her hand out once more and gingerly made an effort to enter through it.

Elissa emerged into an ancient banquet hall. A long table was set up in its center, lined with candles. At the far end was a figure, clad in green and wearing a headdress of golden horns.

"Welcome to Loki's humble abode."

He leaned against the arm of his chair and waved a hand. The chair closest to Elissa slowly backed away from the table and turned to face her.

"Have a seat."

Loki smiled, and while he made no gestures of hostility he tried his best to be imposing. He did not attempt to cloak his magical aura but instead let it radiate off of him, filling with the room with a warm power and the faint smell of heated metal.

Here she could most certainly feel the thrum of magic, though she was no more connected to the Fade than anyone else without magic might be. Atticus' hackles raised and he began to growl, but she settled a hand on his head to quiet him.

Her eyes went to the chair the man offered her and she tentatively sat, as instructed, though she made no move to remove her weapons, her cloak, or the small pack at her side.

The sight of the room was enough to momentarily distract her, far and away from the likeness of her old home. It was old and beautiful, and yet it exuded an air of darkness that made a shiver run down her spine. She settled her hands on her lap and met Loki's gaze squarely.

"Thank you. I did not mean to intrude upon your home. I didn't realize anyone lived here." With the state of disrepair the castle was in, she could only guess it was abandoned.

"None did, before my arrival."

He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table and folding his hands beneath his chin, his lips quirked into a mischievous grin.

"Tell me, my dear, are you accustomed to running towards trouble?"

He didn't seem offended at her intrusion, though he also wasn't excusing her from wandering into his home. Not yet. Elissa needed to work to make certain he wouldn't be affronted still.

She kept her gaze level and did not look away, giving him her full attention. He deserved that at the very least and she hoped it would give him a better impression of her. She was not meek, after all. "It's a bad habit of mine, I suppose." It was a flippant remark, to be certain, but it was entirely true.

"A wonder you yet live."

His grin became wider, and showed a few more teeth.

"There is a saying, I believe, about curiosity killing the cat."

For a moment anger flashed across his eyes, then he sat back in a low slouch, folding his ankle over his knee.

"But I am being an ungracious host. Tell me of yourself. I wish to know more of the mortal woman who would run past my guardian into a place where she was clearly not welcome."

She held her head high at the remark. Fereldan pride or a trace of her old noble birth... Who could say? But she would not cower.

"Curiosity is necessary, messere, else life would not be worth living at all. Were no one to explore what can be in reach, they would never grow or learn at all." And if it resulted in death...well. There was something to be said for living a good life.

She saw the anger in his gaze and held her tongue for the moment. "I thought to lose it in the halls and return to the entrance more to fight and escape later. This is not the first enchanted domain I have been privy to." So far, it had been the least hostile, though that would most likely change. "But I am not so interesting in comparison to you, who can cast spells on armored giants."

Edited 2013-01-06 22:53 (UTC)

"It may not be the first but it may be the last."

He said this amiably, as if he were offering her a glass of water.

"For, you see, binding armor to my will is but one of my abilities. I have many more besides. But you must forgive me if I do not speak of them. 'Twould be ...egotistical of me."

He looked her in the eye, noting her bravery and pride. The brave ones could be more entertaining, when they finally snapped and showed their fear.

"And do not think I have not noticed that you failed to tell me aught about thyself. Do not attempt misdirection with me. In a very real way I created that art."

Her reaction - a brief rise of one eyebrow - was not because of his threat...but to his speech. He was beginning to remind her of Morrigan, of the way she spoke, and the deceptive threats behind his light tone.

It wouldn't be the same. But now she had a better idea of how to proceed. She only hoped she would not offend him further in the process.

"Did you?" Once more, it was curiosity in her voice, not reproach or disbelief. "And I would not find it so egotistical...but so be it. What would you know of me?"

He smiled again, a smile that would have been kind were it worn by any other face.

"A name would be a good place to begin."

There should be no harm in saying...but she had a feeling she may come to regret giving it to him. She closed her eyes briefly and gave him a deep nod, as close to a bow as she would give.

"Elissa Cousland is my name."

The same level gaze.

"And what brought Elissa Cousland into the Borderlands?"

There was a tone to the question that suggested the answer had better be to his liking.

"I came to explore. I do not live a life of idleness and, indeed, I have remained in this place for too long. I wanted to see more of what this world holds."

It was nothing less than the truth, plain and simple.

"For all that they say the world is dead in many places in this world, there is still much to be found here." And learned and understood, either to use against the Initiative or the United Earth so that they may find a way home. "Anything I find is worth my journeying."

Loki steepled his fingers and closed his eyes as he considered her words. With his mind he reached into the corners of the chamber, stirring the shadows there. The darkness in the room steadily grew blacker, causing the flickering of the magical candle flames to seem even brighter. The change was nearly unnoticeable to the naked eye, but the ambiance in the room was different now.

"Wander as you may, you will remain bound to this island."

His eyes opened again.

"Unless you have knowledge of things that your Initiative would rather you not be privy to."

"They cannot keep me here. I will find a way to go further. They cannot conscript people to their war and expect them to stay in one place, like corralled sheep. We are not all so docile as to take their false kindnesses at face value."

Atticus noticed the change in the room first, head lifting. He did not move from his spot at her side, though his ears flattened. She reached over idly to press her hand to the back of his head to comfort him, though her eyes remained on Loki's. The dog did not settle, tension rising in his limbs.

"I have no knowledge, no, but I have no trust for them." And they knew that when she tried to sabotage their efforts to poison the land. Nothing came of it, of course, but they would know her name. "I do not fear the repercussions."

Loki grinned at her words. In many ways they reflected his own. He had left the Hold not only because of his disdain for mortals but also because of his refusal to let anyone bind him to their will. He had no desire to fight for the Initiative, even if the rumors of the United Earth's presence in his homeworld were true.

"An interesting metaphor. Sheep are corralled for their own protection, are they not?"

It was not a kind grin, nor did it seem to be one of amusement. She did not feel bothered by it, though, used to looks far more unappealing.

"Less for their own protection, I think, and more to be groomed and nurtured. But all of them will eventually be taken to the slaughter, won't they?" Too many would be taken in by false promises as the wish to return home. They would believe anything. "And those who are not taken to be broken and feasted on could fall prey to wolves outside of their pens." The United Earth was just as much of a threat and an unknown as the Initiative, a fact she never forgot.

He waved a hand.

"My question, my dear, is whether it is worse to be groomed into a soldier or to be left stranded in a hostile and alien wilderness."

In his own mind it was better to be in the wilderness, where he was not expected to answer to anyone but himself but his thoughts remained unguessable from his expression.

"If your wish is to be a soldier, then it would be better to learn from those who may actually be concerned with your survival, not from your captors. There are people in Exsilium who should not be soldiers." Children, innocents. Those who were capable should learn to defend themselves and Elissa hoped to teach them just that.

"It would be better for them to journey out on their own and defend themselves properly than to wait for the inevitable. At least a society can be built in a small part of the wilderness to protect themselves. In that city, it is like living in a pen. There is no freedom or choice."

"No?"

He tapped his fingertips together and lowered his head slightly, causing the candle light to flicker on his horns.

"It was my impression that the Initiative wanted their city to be just that-a bastion of hope in a place of darkness. But what one intends and what one achieves are different things."

Loki himself had felt more trapped in the city than he did keeping to the walls of his ruined castle and tending to the Reaver.

"Tell me, what is it precisely about the city that tries you so? Or is it simply that the Initiative took you here without your permission?"

"And perhaps that is what they hope to achieve. But you are correct; intentions are not the same as success. They have had over a year to attempt this and have failed. What's more, the've also endangered their population on purpose outside of the fighting itself."

She was giving too much, she realized, but the Initiative and United Earth were neutral grounds for discussion. It was nothing about her.

"It is their lack of understanding. They do not even try to cooperate with us. We are merely to follow their orders." Elissa shrugged slightly. "It would not be the first time I've been taken somewhere without my permission. I could be bitter about it but there's little point to that." It wouldn't change that it happened.

Loki watched and listened attentively, drinking in her words.

"And what do you do other than be bitter?"

He arched a naked brow.

"Do you simply 'journey out on your own' as you say? Or does Elissa act upon her distaste for her captors? Does she move against them aught or is she content to sit and 'wait for the inevitable'?"

Edited 2013-01-11 05:43 (UTC)

"I am not bitter."

The world had given her opportunity to learn. But it was delaying an inevitable and it frustrated her.

Her initial answer, 'That is my business and none of your own,' stuck on her tongue. She didn't fully swallow it. "I have taken measures and precautions. They will not enslave me or mine." And how she planned to do this would not be spoken. The spark in her eyes said so, a defiance she couldn't quite restrain. "I do not wait."

At this he smiled again, though his eyes lit up with a terrible intensity. He knew defiance when he saw it.

"What measures have you taken?"

Somehow the room grew darker. The candles were just as bright, but it was as if their light and the shadows of the chamber were a thin canvas, behind which was a growing void of darkness and madness and lies.

"What do you do?"

Beside her, Atticus growled, the sound tapering off into a plaintive whine. Elissa drew herself up and shook her head.

"I'm afraid, messere, that's something I'm not keen on expressing." Not to a stranger, dangerous or not. And he was intimidating, especially if her dog was acting up about him.

He laced his fingers together.

"Do you think me loyal to the Initiative?"

She shook her head. That much, she knew. "No, I don't. You don't seem the type."

Hiding out in the middle of nowhere with a giant robot and magic at his disposal? The Initiative would want him for a trainer. They would want him to use his magic for their purposes.

"Then what harm is there in speaking to me?"

He sat back again, kicking one knee up over the other and dropping his clasped hands into his lap. The smile he wore was good-natured enough but, like the shadows of the room, it seemed to thinly conceal something old and wretched.

That answer should have been obvious.

Her eyes narrowed as she watched him, taking in his pose. No, now she realized who he reminded her of and it made her skin crawl. "You are a stranger. You've asked your questions and I've been honest and true with them. You ask me to trust you and that is something I will not and cannot do."

"Not trusting me may be wise."

He lifted his hands to his shoulders and dropped them.

"But I am not the one who stormed into your home in the night, unannounced and uninvited, am I?"

Edited 2013-01-14 03:38 (UTC)

"It was an accident," Elissa shot back, though there was no anger in her voice. "I didn't know anyone lived here. I would not have intruded on your home had I known someone lived here. And if I found this place otherwise, I would have asked permission to enter your home."

She swallowed, straightening in her seat. "I did not mean to anger you, messere, but I also do not think my offense warranted you trying to kill me."

"Poor woman. Who spoke of killing?"

He frowned.

"As the beast that now sits beside you may attack anything that it perceives as a threat to your person, soo to does the Reaver protect me."

"He's a friend, not a servant or a beast," she told him, her hand straying to her dog's head. She rubbed absently at his ears, the animal leaning up to bump her hand.

"I would not have attacked you unless you threatened me or instigated a fight."

"I believe you," he answered simply. "But the Reaver knows you not. It has but a single purpose and does it quite well."

He scooted back from the table and rose to his feet. Standing upright he had a more regal bearing, with no hint of the slouch he enjoyed when seated.

"I am attempting to know you better but you do not make it easy."

Something about this hurt him. Was Loki doomed to forever be untrusted, forever vilified? Even by those who had never met him? The wounded feeling lapsed into bitterness and he pushed it down. No, grieving for himself and his own misfortune would not do.

"I can at least attest to that truth." It attacked her without question. If it was programmed that way, then it did its job well.

Elissa did not necessarily fidget in her chair, though her frown was not so hostile as before. "You have as little reason to trust me as I to trust you," she said, her voice softer this time. "We are alike, at least, in that we have been brought to this world unlawfully. It is not your fault, or mine, that we are in this situation...but I cannot afford to give information idly to strangers."

She exhaled quietly. "...I am not used to speaking of myself."

"Perhaps it is a skill that you should work on, then."

Loki started to wander the room, hands clasped behind his back, though his gaze did not leave Elissa.

"I may not trust easily, but I know also that you are of little threat to me."

For a moment his eyes flicked to the windows. Outside, the individual trees were losing themselves in the general gloom of evening.

When his eyes returned to Elissa they sparkled with mischief and something else that was not entirely unpleasant. His silver tongue wagged and he made an effort to maintain some semblance of diplomacy.

"You may stay the night. There are worse things than beasts on my mountains once darkness comes."

Edited (oh god typos) 2013-01-14 06:44 (UTC)

She kept her anger to herself. While Elissa was blessed with something of a silver tongue, she was also cursed with a lack of foresight to use it wisely. Too often, she would say things out of turn or in anger and be incapable of taking them back. She didn't want to anger him now.

Her eyes widened briefly in surprise when he turned to her. She followed his gaze briefly to the window and back.

Finally, she nodded, dipping her head into a low bow. "Thank you. Your generosity is greatly appreciated. We'll be out at first light."

Loki stooped into an elegant bow and grinned.

"Make yourself at home, mortal."

With that, he levitated into the air, folded his arms over his chest and floated backwards, vanishing into the wall. The room filled with a smell like overheated metal and the candles winked out one by one. When the last one went the dark the dining hall grew still, with no movement other than motes of dust dancing through the shafts of moonlight. The darkness that had been coiling in the shadows abated and the chamber was once again as it had been for thousands of years; cold and lifeless. There was no sign that the Trickster had ever been there.

Elissa watched him leave and was left in the dark, the feel of magic vanishing with him without a trace. Atticus whined, not at the darkness but at the situation, turning eyes to her. It was suddenly cold, the hall empty and devoid of all life. It was as if she'd been speaking to herself the entire time.

With a sigh, she stood and drew her sword. Flames licked around the blade, casting enough light for her to find one of the torches in the corner. She lit it and pried it free for her use.

"Come on, boy. Let's find somewhere to rest." They were leaving the moment it grew lighter. This she swore. But she made her way to the other end of the room and to the door, opening it and letting her dog out first. No sense in staying there.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

find there's no need to hide

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject