Reaching towards adulthood?

[issala]

WHO: Kas & You!
WHAT: Catch-all for the month
WHEN: All through Justinian
WHERE: Skyhold (mostly)
NOTES: Feel free to hit me up on draiol for any specific starters!

I. Healer Tents

Since the trip to the Fade, the strange headache had returned. Now it was always there, nagging him, but at times it grew to something less tolerable and more 'knife in his brain'. Kas tried to ignore it, but eventually he had to drag himself to a healer again to get a potion or something until it calmed down.

Opening the healing tent flap after a little knock to a pole, he makes a grumbling sound as a greeting, not sure if it was a healer or another patient in the room.

II. Archery Range

The archery training was going well for the teen, and he found himself always feeling better after he had gone through his training for the day. It cleared his head better than any other things he had attempted, and came with the added bonus of actually improving something. With the hip quiver making pulling out an arrow much easier and less entangled, he was also increasing his speed.

After nailing another shot at the dummy, Kas takes a quick break to grab his water skin and wipe some sweat from his forehead. Concentrating was heavy work.

III. Herald's Rest

Better days meant better ways to entertain himself, and Kas often found himself at the Tavern playing games with other patrons. Wicked Grace, Diamondback, Checkers. Other times, he just liked listening to people talk (and maybe shyly look at girls). He didn't drink, though, which annoyed the staff a bit.

(Good thing the cook thought he was cute.)

Writing letters to his old kith had been sparse lately, the more he realized how bad it had really been there compared to the families he heard about from people like Gorse and Korrin. Still, he felt obligated to let them know he was alive now and then, and could be found scribbling on paper in the tavern when not losing his money to cards.

...it usually ended with him doodling instead.

IV. Wildcard!

Comments

[gatheringstorm]

That giggling is absolutely precious, though Korrin knows better than to say so. She'll savor the moment, though, enjoying how the wiggling bundles of love reduce Kas to mush. And, okay, maybe herself. She picks up one of those attempting to climb her and gently headbutts it, chuckling when it licks her forehead and tries to pay at her horns.

"Now you've done it, Kas. I'd be surprised if they don't attempt to follow you out now." Maybe one would even imprint on him, which wouldn't be the worst thing to happen. A pup to care for might do Kas some good.

[issala]

He's just petting and hugging where he can reach, barely having time to breathe between licks and nibbles and pups in his face. After a moment the teen sits up again, holding one of the puppies and petting their soft little ears with a fond look.

"They're such happy little guys. I can't believe they grow up to be big vicious war hounds." Kas gives the pup he's holding a little rub under their chin. "I'd love a dog, but I'm too busy with work to care for a little one like these. Maybe an adult one will like me, one day."

[gatheringstorm]

"Oh, trust me. Those 'big, vicious war hounds' will behave like overgrown puppies if you give them a treat and offer to rub their bellies." But she doesn't mind having pups that she can actually still lift in her hands. She allows the wiggliest pup to settle onto her shoulder for a moment, making the other whine and reach out with its paw to get at them.

"I bet that could happen. And the mean time, these little ones need plenty of interaction so they'll get used to having a partner. I don't think they'd mind at all if they had you to play with for a little while. It's like with real babies; you hand them over to someone else when they poop."

[issala]

Kas looks thoughtful with a little smile as Korrin speaks, petting the puppy gently and watching the rest jump around in joy. They were such happy little things, just glad to meet new people and explore.

The last part of what Korrin says has him laughing a little, and he leans the puppy he's holding up to his face so they're nose-to-nose. "I bet you guys are horrible poopers."

The puppy looks back at him and wags their stubby tail before attempting to chew on his nose. Maybe tat was payback - they were smart as heck, after all.

[gatheringstorm]

"Such fierce creatures, aren't they?" Korrin chuckles at the nose-chewing before her wiggly shoulder-puppy starts to whine, not certain how to get down. She reaches up to dump him in her lap with the other puppy, watching them instantly wrestle. "I could get one, but Lux would be so mad. A mabari puppy overtaking his position as the spoiled pet of the room? He'd never let me hear the end of it, ever."

[issala]

Kas laughs at the fighting puppies and lets the one he was holding go as well, allowing it to join the struggle. There's something soft there in his eyes as he watches, a hint of the boy beneath all the anxiety, bravado and walls of hurt.

Then Korrin mentions Lux and Kas snorts a little bit, giving her an amused look. "Guess the fox is in charge in yours and Araceli's room, huh? I get that, he's pretty cute." Seemed smart, too. Maybe not as smart as a mabari, but still.

"Are you guys doing okay?"

[gatheringstorm]

"Oh, he is. No question. All the black hairs on my clothes are his doing, when he's busy drama queening about something. But overall, he's a benevolent dictator." Korrin's smirk softens into a smile as she nods. "It helps now that we're back in Skyhold. I feel terrible for scaring the hell out of her in the Western Approach...and for babbling about that damn desire demon that looked like her when I fell out of the Fade. Now she has a vendetta against every one of them for that stunt; if they weren't demons, I'd feel sorry for them."

It's easier to talk about the Fade and demons with puppies to keep things lighter, isn't it? Or such is her hope. Kas might need to talk about it anyway, and this seems a more likely scenario for it than anything else. It might even be why she called him here, though a good portion of that was simply 'puppies'.

One of the puppies tires out from all the wrestling and waddles over to Kas, yawning. Those legs look like an awfully good pillow.

[issala]

"I'm glad you're both okay even after all that." The teen says with just a hint of a smile. He likes his extra moms, okay?

When the mabari comes over, Kas is quick to give the puppy some space so it could roll up in his lap and fall asleep. It gives a little yawn and the teen grins, gently petting the pup's fur even as it flops over and conks out, sleeping like the dead.

It was a good feeling, and it does help with speaking about bad things.

"Desire demons..." The teen shudders slightly, glancing up at Korrin with a bit of hesitation in his blue eyes. "Was the one that looked like my mom one of those, you think?"

[gatheringstorm]

Korrin's expression softens as Kas is used as a pillow, envying the puppy a little for how quickly and easily it falls asleep. She hasn't been as blessed since exiting the Fade, too wound up over what she might see. Snapping back to the present, she nods while gently rubbing down one of the wiggly puppies in her own lap.

"It had to be, yeah. They did the same thing to other people, pretending to be loved ones to get their guard down. Gross, isn't it? But once you meet one, you begin to see through the rest. They can't hold up the act for very long, and they're as subtle as my spells."

[issala]

"...what did it want with me, anyway? I'm not a mage, it couldn't make me an abomination." It didn't make any sense to Kas, as little as he knew about magic and demons aside from it being bad to mix the two.

He continues to pet the puppy, as it that takes the edge off everything (spoiler: it does). "How do you see through it? I mean, I know it wasn't my mom since my mom's dead, but you saw Araceli, right?" Kas bites his lip slightly. "How did you know?"

[gatheringstorm]

"Araceli didn't enter the Fade with us, Kas. There weren't so many of us that she would have failed to find me, or I her. Besides, the real Araceli would never have tried to lure me away from escaping. It was pretty transparent." That doesn't mean it didn't hurt, though, and the only thing muting that turmoil is the fuzzy bundle of adorableness licking her hand.

"You're not a mage, but you were there. I think it just saw an opportunity to fuck with someone and ran with it. It did the same for Beleth, too. There's one spell that Adelaide taught me that helps get rid of their disguises, though. I cast Dispel and then she could see its true form."

[issala]

Kas listens to her and looks down at the snoozing puppy. He runs his fingers through the warm fur, letting the feeling dull the edges to what he was feeling. Anger, fear, confusion... a normal person couldn't really understand the Fade, could they? Not even mages fully did.

"I'm glad it's dead," he says with a sigh. "Too bad you can't teach me that spell."

[gatheringstorm]

"If I could, I would. But you have me when you need it, and we're making sure that as many mages know that spell as possible, anyway. It's a handy one to have around rifts." Korrin starts to smile again when the puppy in Kas' lap begins to twitch slightly with his legs, perhaps dreaming of running or food.

"We can always see about getting you one of those demon-slaying runes. A little extra help can go a long way."

[issala]

"A rune... I might like that." Anything to make him feel like he would actually be able to fight a demon. If Korrin hadn't been there...

Kas tries to force that thought out of his mind, instead looking down at the puppy and its little wiggling leg. This kind of therapy worked on anyone, it seemed, as a few gentle pets takes the very edge of his worry off.

He's still scared and confused and tired, but talking about it helped more than he thought it would.

[gatheringstorm]

"I'll see what I can do. We have the resources here to do that, we should use them." It's also a good reminder to do the same for her own staff, which was powerful enough on its own but in the Fade she would still have loved the boost. At least its easier to push aside darker thoughts when fuzzy puppies are depending on them.

"And you know, the mage council has classes on how to resist demons. You might not get as much out of it as the mages, but it should still have information that's useful to everyone."

[issala]

"I haven't checked, really, but one of the other scouts whined that we only have plans for one kind of runes once. Maybe there's more now?" It was magic stuff AND smithing stuff so it was not his area at all, but he welcomed the idea.

It would make the nightmares a little easier. He couldn't exactly bring a horde of puppies to bed.

Korrin's mention of the mage council makes him a little surprised, and he rubs a little between his horns. "So, like... it's for mages but I could learn like... the basics? On how to tell them to fuck off?"

[gatheringstorm]

"Yeah, fire runes. Which are great on most things, not so much if you're fighting a rage demon." Fucking blobs of fire, Korrin tries to freeze them on sight but she's not so skilled at Winter magic that she can do so on a large case.

She nods to his question, seeing no reason a non-mage couldn't sit in just in case this Fade shit happened again. After all, plenty of non-mages were pulled in during the fiasco at the Western Approach. "On how to recognize their tricks for what they are, how to counter them, yeah. Once you know their patterns, it becomes easier to deal with."

[issala]

"I... think I would like to sit in on that and listen, yeah." Kas gently runs his hand over the sleeping puppy's warm tummy, and it helps to take the edge off again.

Shit, he really needed something like this. Maybe he should look up getting a dog or something. He had been pretty happy with the rat, but would probably be traumatic to have another one.

Eating your pet was a problematic thing.

"I'm learning a lotta rogue stuff from Zevran, and my archery is going well. I'll be okay next time, Korrin."