Thought They Were Goners {Alistair}

[Chinchilla]

Nepeta's first thought was that she ached and had sand in her ears.

That was a surprise. The last thing the young troll remembered was crawling through the vents, her curiosity having won over her common sense. But now she was lying flat on her back, a dull throb in her back that probably meant that she had fallen. She opened her eyes, in her dazed state expecting to see the smooth silver ceilings of the meteor laboratories.

Instead, Pern's sun stared down at her. Nepeta recoiled in shock and rolled over, instinctively lifting her hands to cover her eyes. That was not a ceiling! The troll stumbled to her feet, eyes squeezed tightly shut. She was in unfamiliar territory, in the sun, and she was not on the meteor. Was this a dream? It couldn't be! She nearly stumbled in the sand, only keeping her footing by virtue of experience from her time in the Land of Little Cubes and Tea.

She tried to reach into her sylladex to pull out her claws, so she could have some way to defend herself, but was met with nothing. She couldn't access her inventory or her strife deck at all. This was not good. Nepeta was effectively blind and without her trusty claws.

But her skin wasn't boiling off and zombies hadn't risen from the ground to consume her tasty kitty flesh, which meant that she definitely wasn't on Alternia. She cautiously cracked open one eye. It was nearly painfully bright, but she wasn't in danger of going blind. She opened both eyes, looking around.

Sand. Sand as far as the eye could see.

Nepeta hissed, flexing her hands and sliding into a defensive, battle ready pose. What did she know about deserts? Not much. Kanaya had lived in one, but she hadn't exactly spent much time pestering the jade blood about her home. She knew it was painfully hot, which hadn't changed, and that zombies lived there. But she didn't see any zombies. Tavros' planet had looked like a desert, but the game was hardly true to life.

Maybe this was the game? Maybe the meteor had all been a bad dream. But Nepeta doubted it. Especially since she when she slept, she arrived on Derse.

"This is furry bad." Nepeta mumbled to herself. Maybe the others were nearby? Could they explain what happened? But Equius had gone to face Gamzee, and Feferi and Kanaya were dead, and who knew about the others!

So she was probably alone. Alone on a very, very strange world and surrounded by sand.

[weasel]

You know, there was a thing about killing a demon with a parasitic soul; you didn't expect to exist after it had happened. Indeed, Alistair had been entirely prepared to never be Alistair ever again. Or, well, anything. But here he was, feeling and thinking, which tended to be sure signs of existence. While he'd usually be quite happy to still be a thing that was actually real, it was quiet. Really quiet.

That was bad; Alistair hated quiet, but besides that, it shouldn't be quiet. It should be loud and rumbling and fierce; the cries of men, women, and darkspawn alike should have been there. If he was still existing, then he should still be in the battle- still with the Warden and the others and- Everyone else! The battle! Denerim! Why was he laying down on the ground when he needed to be awake and fighting off the last of the army?!

The man opened his eyes and got to his feet quickly, reaching for his sword and- "Oh. Oh, that isn't good at all." First, there was no sword. Second, and probably more importantly, this was not Denerim. This was...this was definitely not Denerim. This wasn't even Ferelden! Ferelden had trees and water and dogs and there was none of that here. Just sand.

"Maker's breath." This...this was unexpected. Really, really unexpected. He'd thought he wouldn't exist, but now he was existing, but this certainly wasn't home, or the Fade. Or, well, anything like how he expected the afterlife to be. It was too sandy and dry for the after life. "Who knew the Maker and Andraste thought tans were so important?" He laughed nervously, trying to shove away panic by just doing what he always did.

It wasn't working.

There was no Warden to roll eyes and punch him in the shoulder, or Morrigan to sneer and call him stupid, and there was only quiet and being alone. He had to have died, right? There was no way he was still in Thedas- or, maybe he was, but no where he recognized. Orlais had a desert, he thought, but he was sure that it wasn't like this. It was cold, wasn't it? Antiva? Doubtful, as he wasn't being swarmed by assassins.

It was just him, alone, in some strange place that was probably death. Or the afterlife. Or maybe some inbetween sort of place for Grey Wardens who had stabbed big scary Archdemons. Either way, alone! Alone and it was quiet quiet quiet- "Oh! Um, hello! Way over there! You- you are a person, right? Am I yelling at darkspawn? Oh, uh, not that you look like darkspawn, but- um. Yes. Hello?" Maybe he was just crazy and he was walking towards a strangely shaped tree.

Oh well. Rather a tree than nothing.

[Chinchilla]

Someone was speaking.

Nepeta's head snapped up, eyes darting about as she looked for the owner of the voice. For a second, she was very, very still. A zombie, maybe? But what kind of zombie spoke? Besides, he had no horns, and looked... sort of like one of the humans. But he was much bigger then the humans she knew. So an adult, maybe? Oh, wow! Her very first adult!

Did human adults eat their young? Nepeta didn't think so. She had seen the Jade-human with her lusus-grandfather when the man was alive, and John's lusus had seemed more interested in eating cake then wigglers. Besides, this human didn't look very scary. Still, she would have to be cautious. Adults were, as far as she knew, bad news. They weren't exactly kind to wigglers, and she couldn't be certain that the human adults she had seen weren't just odd for their kind.

"Hello!" Nepeta called back, turning to walk in his direction. Even if he was an adult, he was also the only other living thing that Nepeta could see. Maybe they could help each other! "Hee! Of course i'm a purrson! What else would I be, silly?" She didn't know what a darkspawn was, but it didn't sound like a good thing. "Are you a purrson? You're furry suspicious, all alone in the desert!" Said the pot to the kettle.

The armor wasn't too odd. Most of the trolls she had met on Alternia had gone without, but she was sure the warlike adults used it often enough. "I'm afuraid I've been stranded out here! Do you happen to know where we are, Mispurr...?" She trailed off, furrowing her eyebrows. Right. She didn't know his name. She wasn't exactly used to speaking to strangers yet. Oh well. It'd come with time.

Nepeta frowned. She really had to find a way back. Equius was going to be so worried when he came back from calming down Gamzee and found out she was gone! She would have to listen to him fussing forever!

She hoped he was okay.

[weasel]

Okay. Okay, he wasn't being attacked. As far as Alistair was concerned, that was more than enough to define this as good. Not to mention, as he approached the other, the figure seemed significantly less intimidating than...well. Anything. "Oh, um. Yes, I suppose you'd have to be a person, wouldn't you? Awfully sorry. I, uh, shouldn't be questioning your personness, should I?" Wait, what was that? 'Purrson?' Was he talking to a cat? No, that didn't look like a cat.

"Oh? Me? Yes, I..I would think I'm a person. Well, mostly. All of the important parts of me are, at least. I mean, all of the parts of me. All parts are important. At least, important enough that you'd miss them when you're gone." Well, this wasn't a comforting or intelligent conversation at all. He was glad no one was here to see him awkwardly stumble over words. Oh, uh, except the other person.

The man listened quite intently as the girl explained her predicament- one really close to his own, actually. Maybe this was the afterlife and they were both just confused that they weren't lying on the ground dead. He supposed that was one explanation for why they were in the middle of no where. "No idea where we are. Sorry."

He summoned up the most charmingest winningest smile he could manage at the question of his name, inclining his head slightly. "Alistair, Grey Warden extraordinaire at your service. Well, not so extraordinaire, considering I've gotten myself lost. Funny how things work. One minute you're in the middle of a battle stabbing a monster and the next you're surrounded by sand."

Wait, he was being impolite! Really impolite, actually, which was probably bad if he was dead. "Ah, and what's your name?" Was this a little girl? His heart twisted slightly, because if he was truly dead, than this was...really tragic. Some poor child, lost and unaware and trying to find her way back home.

Oh. Oh, meeting someone hadn't made him feel better at -all-.

[Chinchilla]

Well, this was furry pleasant! It was refreshing to meet someone who didn't doubt her species or try to murder her. The game had really done a number on Nepeta's socialization! Why, she could still remember that dark dog-man whenever she closed her eyes. Poor Derse. The man was talking again, and Nepeta was snapped out of her reminiscing. "I'm not sure what else i'd be!" She smiled at him, careful not to bare her fangs. Humans probably didn't like that. They were such strange people! "Oh, it's okay! You're not the furst purrson to be surpurrised!" She laughed, rocking back on her heels. "Humans don't efur seem to believe me until they see the gray skin!"

She wondered if this place had internet. Maybe if it did, she could get to trollian and contact Equius or Karkat? What if they were here? She couldn't stop worrying about them and the others. With Vriska and Eridan on the loose... and poor Gamzee! Hopefully he would be okay again by the time she made her way back. She would hate to see poor Gamzee get hurt.

"You can nefur be too sure!" She said, her smile widening a bit. "You might be an imp in disguise! Or maybe you're just a furry intelligent zombie!" Okay, so maybe she was getting caught up on teasing him. Focus, Nepeta! There were important things to take care of! Like her moirail! Nepeta frowned. Her moirail! How could she have forgotten Equius? She had to find him, if he was nearby.

"Well. If you don't know where we are, have you seen someone? He's grey like me, with black hair and one of his horns is broken! The other one is shaped like an arrow. He's my moirail, and his name is Equius." No puns. This was serious business. "Actually, have you seen anyone like me? Grey skin? Orange horns?" What if she was all alone in this desert?

After a month of contact with only her friends, the thought of being separated from them was terrifying. She had already lost a few. She had already lost Pounce. Was paradox space going to take them all from her? ... No. She wouldn't let that happen. She was going to find the other trolls. They would all be okay! Even Eridan and Vriska. Especially Eridan and Vriska!

Alistair was speaking again, so Nepeta forced herself to pay attention. "What's a Grey Warden? Oh! Purrleased to meet you, micester Alistair!" She dropped down into an excited bow, tucking her hand against her stomach. She straightened up with a bounce, her smile morphing into a sympathetic frown. "I know the feeling." Boy did she know the feeling.

"Oh! I'm Nepeta Leijon! Rogue of Heart, at your service!" She looked around, tilting her head to one side. "I guess if I'm not in the labs, my friends are purrobably here too! I need to find them. It's supurr impurrtant."