faderift | [OPEN] It's thunder and it's lightning

WHO: Bruce Not-Banner and anybody else
WHAT: Somehow its business as usual. And also a dracolisk who continues to makes his life interesting in all the best ways.
WHEN: Across all of August, 9:42 Dragon
WHERE: Orlais or Skyhold. Timey wimey ball in effect.
NOTES: Catch all and stuff for this month. Like before I'm starting in brackets, but feel free to switch around to prose and I'll follow. If you want to plot stuff or request individual starters, feel free to either PM me, get me on Plurk @

knightblazer or Discord @ knightblazer#8835.

one. fancy roads and fancier people (orlais)

[Orlais is, and will most likely never be, Bruce's cup of tea - to put it mildly. The people here felt too... fake, hiding behind their masks and whispering as if nobody could hear them, could see the way they were so clearly scheming. Things they could all so easily less do of and focus on more important things, like helping the countless people living in constant poverty. Not that he was expecting anything like that anytime soon.

The nerve of these people sometimes.

Though he is but one person Bruce does whatever he can to help still. He goes around lower districts and out into the countryside where the sick, the old and the poor need help the most, and can be easily found giving consultations for those who come to seek for it and medications to those who do need it using his own coin that he gets from working in the Inquisition.

In fact, if you're lucky (or unlucky) enough, you can chance him up in the high quarters, where he grudgingly goes up there in order to shop for all those needed herbs and medicines, some of which only can be found here in the heart of Orlais. Not that knowledge helps him sometimes, because some of these shopkeepers really want to suck people dry and Bruce finds himself having to bargain one too many times. It can get kind of draining after a while.

And yes, while he's here, he's still stuck in the armor set that the Inquisition loaned him.]

two. no more fancy streets for me (skyhold)

[Bruce never thought he'd be thinking it, but it was good to be back in Skyhold. If only because that meant he wasn't in Orlais. For now, anyway.

Either way, its good to be out of that armor.

It's easy enough to settle back into his usual routine once he's settled back down. Bruce can be found in his usual places for the most part during the day - the healing tents where he tends to most of the patients under his care, around the courtyard when he makes his daily rounds to attend to those who can't quite come to him, the gardens where he works however he can to ensure that the herbs and plants continue to flourish and for those who want to seek him out during the night - the battlements, where he dwells up there more often than not and uses those restless nights to experiment with some potion making.

On some nights though instead of the battlements he's instead in the library, perusing through numerous texts and jotting down notes in his worn leather journal. If there's at least one good thing that came out of his mage status being revealed, its at least the fact that he no longer has to sneak around just to read a magical tome or two. Not that it makes him feel any better, but it does help that the rumors around him aren't as strong as they used to be, now that the people have other things to be occupied with.

And finally, he can be sometimes found at the stables, reluctantly tending to the dracolisk he's more or less stuck with at this point. And maybe sometimes taking it out to try and train it. And speaking of that...]

three. you sir are not a dog (skyhold, stables)

--no, I said, stay.

[It's definitely a bit of a sight should one chance upon it - Bruce with a hand raised, making the universal gesture of stop towards the dracolisk that's apparently determined to follow him around. Or at least, as evidenced by Bruce dropping his hand, taking a few steps backward... and sighing when he sees the dracolisk following him still.]

I said, stay. [Bruce runs a hand through his hair and shakes his head.] You can't follow me all around Skyhold.

[He steps forward now, closer to the dracolisk, and it only backs away a little when Bruce comes it too closely for it to really be able to take a good look at its human. It snorts and flicks its tail when they both stop moving, and Bruce is left to stare at it for a good moment.]

Alright, let's try this again. [He raises his hand once more.] Stay.

[He clicks his tongue after that, slowly lowering his hand... and then the dracolisk leans back on its hindlegs, eventually assuming--well, like this.

A few moments pass as Bruce stares at what had just happened. Then he lowers his hand.

--he supposes its close enough.]

wildcard.

[Feel free to throw in your own prompt or PM/contact me to plot out stuff!]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Absolutely none at all. I'm sure they appreciate whatever you can do for them, even if it's just fresh bandages. With all the fighting around the city, they're probably looking for anything that will help over the stop-gap between war and peace."

She tugged the cart, crooking a half-smile at him, "Well, then I suppose we're off to another part of the shopping district. Hope your irritation level's gone back to even."

Bruce could easily think of that too of course, but its nice to hear it all the same. He hums his acquiescence and two of them start making their way down the streets in the direction of the next set of shops Bruce intends to go to. Katniss speaks not long after they start walking and the words have Bruce biting down a sigh, even though the exasperation is more than evident on his face.

"I'll manage." Even if he really isn't fond of all these swindling merchants, but needs must and all. And its not the worst thing he's had to do, anyway. He'll make do.

Katniss's mouth twitches at the corners, glancing over at Bruce's irritated expression. With a completely straight face, she stated simply, "Remember, you can't win them over with mild disapproval and firmly thinking you can do better, face. Try smiling."

"Hard to smile when you can tell exactly what they're trying to do to you." With the exception of the better ones, its always hard to be ever fine with any Orelsian that Bruce encounters. Especially when they're merchants with their gold grubbing hands.

Still, he knows that Katniss has a point. Bruce sighs again and rubs the side of his face, doing his best to dispel the exasperation on his features. "But I'll try." It's the most he can promise.

"Well think about this way ... you get a little of it now, but get more out of it than they ever will." Katniss stated simply, before she arched an eyebrow, "Besides, you could do just do what I do. Bare your teeth in a smile and look threatening without threatening. That tends to lower the prices a bit."

Bruce snorts despite himself at the comment, glancing further down the road as he runs a hand through his hair.

"Threatening people in any way isn't really up my alley." It was... well, it hit too many close buttons for him. And its not like they're really doing anything to him personally to deserve it - it was simply just how things were in Orlais. Just being scary here and there wasn't really going to do much in the long run.

"Well, then I suppose you will have to go with something slightly less snarly and perhaps just keep smiling at them. They'll be unnerved enough that they might give you discounts just to go away." Her lips twitched to the side. "It doesn't seem like they have much market for pure happiness around here anyways."

Another quiet huff, with Bruce running fingers through his hair once more before he responds. "Maybe. We'll see." Though he suspects that Katniss is probably much better at that than he himself could make himself do intentionally. For the most part, anyway.

She glanced over at him, before she smirked again and decided it was time to switch topics, "So. What have you been up to? I haven't seen you much - what with running from one end of Thedas to the other."

The topic change was appreciated, though Bruce couldn't be entirely sure just how long this reprieve would last. Still, he would take what he could get.

"Just the usual," he returns, as lightly as he could. Obviously, things had shifted around a bit since the Inquisition was finally made aware of his mage status, but now everyone was more concerned with the state of Orlais and other more important thing than his deception so things in his own life had settled down a fair bit. Still, the fact that he was out here in Inquisition armor and staff strapped to his back was pretty telling by itself.

The reprieve will last as long as he doesn't turn it around on her, honestly. There were so many things she hadn't spoken about to anyone, in so long, that it felt like she was switching places with Bruce. She all secrets, and he, the one out in the open.

Speaking of...

"Yes, I can see that, Ser Mage." Is her dry response, although she grins a little at their almost matching armor. "Finally came clean?"

It was bound to come eventually. Bruce bites down a sigh this time and does his best to play it off, though there's no denying the hint of tension that stiffens his shoulders. "Didn't have much of a choice." It was keeping his secret or risk Adelaide's life out in the Fade, and the decision was obvious enough.

Of course, there was also the fact that him being a mage was just one of the many things that Bruce had chose to kept num about. But that, at least, was a secret not worth losing anybody's lives over.

She gave him a long look, before she sighed softly, "Yet you're still afraid, aren't you? Even now, when you finally got the help you were looking for?"

"You know its not that simple." It didn't just end with him being a mage - it was more than that. The very nature of who he was called for a denial of his existence, but yet here he still stood, alive despite it all. The stigma against what he was had only been constantly reinforced with the presence of Anders around, and the outlash from that had been bad enough. Bruce didn't want to think what that same outlash would be directed at him.

No, it was better to keep on staying quiet. There was of course that chance of compromise, considering what Anders was aware of, but his own reputation worked against him there - so on that account Bruce was at least still safe. For now.

"No, I suppose not. Nothing is really that simple, is it? Especially now." Katniss sighed deeply, pausing in pulling the cart to push her hair away from her slightly sweaty brow. She picked it up once more, her voice quiet and grim.

"I just hope you will make it through the other side ... and not be torn apart. One way or another."

No, nothing had really ever been that simple. If anything, it was only more complicated than before. In the time since he first joined the Inquisition so much has happened, and especially in the last few months...

Not for the first time Bruce thought about leaving. The patients and his work was what kept him here, but it had pretty much been a year since he first joined at the Crossroads. It had been pretty much the longest he had stuck around at all, and the though of that was not as comforting as it should be. Staying had always been a risk, and being here for so long only made it even mire dangerous.

Bruce bites down another sigh. "Don't worry about me. Worry about yourself." Despite it all, in the end its not like he would really ever matter. There was no place in Thedas for monsters and Bruce would rather have somebody else more deserving get through to the other side.

[OPEN] It's thunder and it's lightning

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