maskormenace

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[He wanted time to familiarize himself with this place. He needed to know if anyone else from the Inquisition had been brought across as well, and then to find them if they had. But first, he'd looked through the information they'd given him - the neat print on the strange white paper - and now, suddenly, Maxwell had a much more immediate, personal worry.

The video opens on his face; his expression a mixture of incredulity and concern.]

Hello. [It feels awkward, addressing nothing, but he pushes on.] My name is Maxwell and I have a question, and there doesn't seem to be anyone else to ask.

[The camera turns and fixes on a portion of the pages he'd been given. He points to a section, chases a sentence with his fingertip as he reads it aloud.] 'Bears will always find him.' [Then the feed swings back to him.]

Why would anyone want this? How many bears do you even have in this place, to hope to make this useful? And do they just-- roam about?[He glances away, as if one might have suddenly sneaked up on him, then back.] Are these abilities negotiable in any way?

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[Poe does laugh, then, because he might not know who Andraste is, but it's a funny curse anyway.]

Though it would probably say if you were just materialising animals left, right, and centre. I'm going to go take a wild guess and assume you just got here?

[His fingertips press and rub against his close eyes as the papers rustle under his under hand, page turning. Blinking, he looked again.]

...Just demons, it appears. [He offered no more explanation than that. Only the impression that it, at least, was some sort of relief. Somehow.] And yes. [His first smile, the edge of humor tugging at one side of his moth.] Painfully obvious, I'm sure, but desperate times.

Edited 2017-09-04 20:04 (UTC)

[Poe's brow furrowed and he mouthed the word 'demons' before letting it go and offering the stranger a sympathetic smile.]

Don't worry, bud, we've all been there. Some of us have a rougher time than others. I'm Poe, by the way. Poe Dameron. Good to meet you.

Only that which we can endure, right?

[A low, small laugh.]

Thank you, Poe. For better or worse, I suppose at least that's one question answered.

I'm happy to field any more you can think of, but I can't promise all the answers.

Except one: maybe avoid the zoo.

Ah. I'll make a note.

But, if you truly mean it... is there any way of knowing-- anyone I can ask about other people being brought from my world? If there's anyone else here?

Well, this is the best place to do it. Every one of us gets one of these communicators. Just listen for a bit and put the word out and you'd be surprised who you hook.

Really surprised.

Let's just say time back home doesn't really have any meaning, here.

[Maxwell's head cocked slightly, his brow twitching, concern tightening at the corners of his moth.]

What, like- time travel?

[Poe gives an amused, sympathetic look.]

Sort of. More like, people come from different points in their lives. And - in a galaxy like mine - from a lot of different points in history. There's a bunch of people here who are from the time period when I was two years old, back home. So technically I know what happens to them, later. Thirty years later.

It's a lot to wrap your head around.

[Maxwell's eyes narrow further. Clearly he has thoughts about it.]

It's dangerous.

Yeah. Tell me about it. [Maxwell's eyes are the eyes of a man who has Seen Some Shit. Poe sympathises.]

They don't actually know who or what they're bringing through. And when a genocidal maniac does get brought in -- [yeah he's talking about Hux again] -- they don't have a way to contain them. Not until they do something to break the law in this world. Doesn't matter what they did at home.

[Maxwell physically pulls back at that, making a sound caught between indignation and incredulity. What if they'd gotten Coryephus instead of him? What if they still did?]

I'm sure that has ended well, and will continue to do so.

Well, the planet is still intact, so for the moment, I'm calling it a win.

[Sorry Maxwell. Have a bemused smile.]

Sorry. What an info dump for your - is this your first day?

It is, yes. [On both counts.]

It may have been- unwise, to reach out like this, but I wasn't sure where else to turn with an immediate question.

To be honest, it was probably for the best. Better to just learn everything all at once, get it all over with. Then you have a few weeks to have your existential crisis rather than spreading it out.

[He offers a sympathetic look.]

If it helps, though - apparently no time passes at all. People leave, sometimes, and sometimes they come back, and when you go back it's like nothing happened. You don't remember anything, and you were never gone.

[His face softened, relaxed, in the knowing that at least his advisers, his friends wouldn't be beside themselves with worry.]

It does, a bit. Somehow. Weirdness and all.

Yeah. Took me a while to find that one out, so, consider that a gift on the house. [He offers a warm smile.]

So where are you from?

Thedas. Ostwick, originally, most recently of Skyhold.

[He doesn't really expect any reaction, any familiarity, but it's mostly habit. The formal introduction.]

[Poe just shook his head with an apologetic look.]

Sorry, bud. Haven't heard of it. What's it like?

Not like this. [Was the immediate, simple answer. His eyes flick away the screen, around the room he's in. Where did he even begin? He looks back, and eyes landing on the strange device he was using to talk to Poe, decides it's as good as any.

One step at a time.]

We don't have these there. He taps the screen lightly with a finger-tip. [There's a small glimpse of something green. There and gone.] Nor anything like them. If you wish to talk to someone, you do so in person, or have a raven carry a message.

Edited 2017-09-06 11:06 (UTC)

[He didn't know what a raven was, but thankfully his ever-handy Comm was already ready with an answer. It had become used to his ignorance, and was increasingly helpful. So, telepathically it told him that it was a black bird similar to the crows he'd seen in the city. Good to know.]

You send messages by bird? I think I can go ahead and assume that space travel is right out, then.

[A low chuckle, wry.]

We don't know what's beyond the sea, much less the stars.

[Not that wasn't enough to keep them occupied where they were, Archdemons and blights and crazed would-be-gods turning up with increasingly disturbing regularity. But comparatively... it was a thing.]

[That got him to raise his eyebrows.]

Huh. I can barely imagine. It's weird enough being stuck on a planet that I can't even look at from orbit.

These guys don't have space travel either, really. Just some low orbit stuff, and apparently they've been to the moon a few times. I could do that when I was six years old, in an afternoon with my mom.

So we're both from strange worlds. [He offered the last with a grin.]

Something else to take comfort in. Weirdness abounds, across space and time, and leaves us all confused.

[Funny, the ties that bind.]

Yeah, you can say that again.

But if it means anything, I hope you find your friends.

Don't give up hope if they aren't here, yet. People seem to ebb and flow from this place like the tide. And even if they leave, they often come back.

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dreadinquisitor - 2017-09-07 11:44 (UTC) - Expand

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flightforfreedom - 2017-09-11 18:27 (UTC) - Expand

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