faderift | [Open]

WHO: Anders and You*! (*unless you are someone who will turn him in. ONE DAY THERE WILL BE CR. /reaches sadly)
WHAT: Detlef going about his days, helping out, being argumentative, everything
WHEN: Mid-Wintermarch
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: Probably nothing? I'll edit if that changes

Healing tents

Anders is found in these most often during the day. Everything's easier when he works, really, when he and Justice can both be on the same page. They're doing good. They're furthering the cause of mage freedom. And more importantly, no one is being hurt. Are you a patient? He's probably checking you over before getting to work. Co-worker? Hand him the elfroot salve, please? Or just drop by and find him where he's most willing to be chatty as he works.

Garden

There's nothing like seeing a mage seemingly talking to a tree. Considering previous events, it's probably a little worrying. But upon closer approach one can see that there's a terrified cat clinging to a very small branch that's just barely supporting its weight, and they can hear the mage trying to talk the cat down as if the cat can understand anything that's being said.

"You can do it. Just step... Come on. A little lower. Please?"

Just outside Skyhold

There's a garden inside the walls. It has plenty of things growing in it, including basically everything Anders is looking for. It's hard for him to stay inside the walls for too long, though. He needs to be outside, to wander some, to remind himself that the walls aren't keeping him in. While it isn't the healthiest method of coping, there are certainly worse ways to go about it.

Anyone running into him out here gets a look that's a mix of surprised and bashful - the latter due to him not really having any way to explain why he's out here with a handful of easy-to-get herbs in hand.

Library

He's seated in the Library, head buried in a book the way it never was when he was at the Circle, with a pair of large tomes next to him. They're probably not that surprising for a spirit healer, treatises on spirits and their nature, but he doesn't look pleased. And he isn't. He's not finding anything that will help with his situation, and Anders is aware that he might not have a lot of time left for the looking.

Approaches from strangers get a glance up and a nod, before he'll ask if they need to get to something past him. Known people get asked a little absently how their day is going before he turns another page.

[Or] Alternately, he's curled up off to the side, on the ground, paging through a book on obscure magic that talks about various rumored spells that the author doubts really exist. His attention is primarily on the shapeshifting portion, and he looks a little wistful. Anyone approaching who glances at the book get a half-smile and asked if it wouldn't be fun, being able to transform into animals.

Wildcard

[Hit him up wherever? He grabs food in the kitchens on the go, sometimes is at the tavern in a corner near the back, sits on the walls and looks out sometimes, surreptitiously feeds the stray cats around skyhold (and scolds any dogs that try to take the food,) and may, every now and then, see if he can zap armor in just the right way so straw and fabric and all sorts of things stick to it.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"High and hidden, but I can see everything. It's safe up here." Cole steps a little closer, until he's just over the man's shoulder, looking upward toward the tree branches. "She doesn't want to come down."

That doesn't mean, of course, that staying up there is the best thing for her.

"I could go to the kitchens while you watch her. She might come down for some meat."

"She feels safe?" He'd been thinking her perch unsteady, but Cole would know. Anders considers the offer before shaking his head no.

"If she wants to stay, we can let her. She'd know what she wants more than I would." High and hidden. There have been times he would have liked to hide and still see all that was going on, so he can't blame her. ...And really, trying to look after her might have been a little selfish. He'd wanted to hold a cat again for a little while.

Anders shrugs that off and looks back at Cole. "You're doing well?" The boy might be whole, but Anders can't imagine that a whole lot of people are all right with someone who can hear and feel parts of what they're thinking.

More people than Anders thinks, perhaps. Those who aren't won't remember, for the most part.

"One of the maids was crying. I helped her stop." Because he is only doing as well as his ability to help. So far, so good.

"I'm glad you were able to do that." If only it was so easy to find ways for Justice to fulfill his purpose as it seemed to be for Compassion. He couldn't be jealous, though. It's not Cole's fault that Anders wound up with a stubborn spirit.

Though that stirs another thought.

"Do you... Would you be able to pin down what most bothers Justice, do you think?" Anders generally knows what the spirit's opinion on things is, but sometimes it's hard to figure out exact thoughts in his own head. If he infers something wrong, he can only reinforce that incorrectly, and so on. It's a mess.

Cole wonders if he could. So far, he's only been able to sense Justice as a presence, lacking a specific direction or point of focus. It may be because the spirit hasn't been given the reigns yet — or because he simply hasn't had anything to say.

"It's — hard to tell." He admits. "He's here, but he's quiet. I don't know why — I haven't met many other spirits."

Not for the first time, Anders wishes it were safe to let Justice have control. Maybe the release would help the spirit, and maybe talking with Cole would help Justice too. But he can't risk it. The song of the fake calling is in his mind, and last time they ran into that and Anders lost control, demons were summoned. They both have to make this work.

"We haven't met many others since he's been pulled to this side of the Veil either." As much as Anders wants Cole to have answers, he can't blame the guy for not knowing what's going on. They're the blind leading the blind, really.

"Are you lonely, Cole?" He doesn't think Justice is lonely, but he can't tell. "Would you like to take a walk, or play a game of cards, or... I don't know. Maybe spending time near you will help him, too." And maybe it will help Cole as well, because Anders never sees Cole in large groups of people.

Cole glances away at the offer of a walk, a game. At the question of loneliness. He's been lonely before - painfully so, sometimes, ever since Rhys and Evangeline. Less lonely now. Less cause to feel that way. Still, even being faced with the question causes him to feel discomfited. His loneliness shouldn't be the point.

He looks back, though, at the suggestion that staying close might help the other spirit.

"I've never played cards," he admits. What else could they do? "We could walk down by the healing tents." See if there's anything they can do there together.

[Open]

Garden

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