Open | If you forget, is it like it never happened?

[killedwithlove]

WHO: Cole and anyone who needs or wants him
WHAT: Cole's back. If he ever left. Who really knows?
WHEN: Now until end of February.
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: If you want a personal starter, drop me a PM or find me at jemisard

Those sensitive to such things might notice that Cole is back. He's hard to remember at the best of times, and after such a long period, Cole himself expects virtually no one to remember who he is or that he's allowed to be here.

But it doesn't stop him doing what he does. Moving about, helping those he can.

Comments

Before TTT

[not_the_question]

The Doctor was still settling in himself. He didn't think he had been here all that long, but well, his time sense in this place wasn't quite what he was used to.

Still. That didn't mean anything was wrong with his memory and he hadn't seen this person around before. Not just hadn't met them, but hadn't sensed them. Their presence was weird. Kind of like how he felt about the Silence. But not exactly. The Silence were forgotten the moment you didn't look at them any more. This was similar, but different.

"Hullo there. Haven't seen you about before. Are you new?"

[killedwithlove]

Cole senses the Shard approaching rather than the person. Maybe, in this circumstance, that's for the best.

"No. Yes. I don't know. I'm older than the gardens and the Knight Commander's sword, but younger than the wood that makes the beams of the tavern."

He also clearly doesn't get the context of what he's being asked.

[not_the_question]

"Oh, don't compare ages or deaths. That's a battle you'll lose pretty quickly."

He smirks slightly.

"When I asked if you were new, I meant, I haven't seen you about here. So you must not have been here long..."

[killedwithlove]

"Oh."

He cants his head, thinking. "I came to Haven to warn them of the army, the red lyrium. I help where I can. After we went to Adamant, I needed to go away, help people away from here for a while."

He looks up at something else. "I can choose where I go. It's good. I can go where I'll help most."

[not_the_question]

The Doctor has a hopeful expression.

"You can leave here? Really? How does that work?"

He's used to travelling the whole of time and space, he's getting a little claustrophobic already.

[killedwithlove]

"... I walked."

He gives the man a strange look and then wonders if maybe this Rifter comes from a world without movement. Which is a strange idea. "You go out the gates and down the paths. It takes you out for the mountains."

[not_the_question]

The Doctor's features falls a little.

"Sorry. I'm... not from around here, so when people talk about leaving, I... I thought you meant you weren't from this world and you had found a way to leave it."

Fool's hope. That's what he had and so it left him to not really pay correct attention.

[killedwithlove]

"I'm not. I'm from the Fade. But I don't know how to go back and I don't think I want to yet."

But he knows he's made him sad. "I'm sorry. I'm not a Rifter, not like you. I'm like me. I usually know how to help, but it's harder with Rifters, I can't see you well, because of the shard."

[not_the_question]

"Wait. You're from the Fade? I thought... I was told..."

He might need to sit down, because he thought people from the Fade were 'bad'. He shakes his head to try to clear it.

"If it makes you feel better, you do the same to me. So, what can you normally see in us?"

[killedwithlove]

"Yes. I'm a spirit. Mostly. I'm more real than most spirits. I'm not a demon. I don't think I'm a demon."

He hums again, swaying on the spot. "What hurts, what matters, what makes mortals. Memories and emotions. But the shard smothers it into silence."

[not_the_question]

Interesting. Doesn't think he's a demon, but isn't sure...

"Well, those things become muddied around me anyway. But you not being sure of your own state tells me why I have difficulty reading you."

He gives a small nod of his head.

"I'm the Doctor. And you are?"

[killedwithlove]

"I don't think I'm demon. Vivienne says I am." She's not here now, but she still thinks it.

Cole doesn't question this name. "I'm Cole. Or they call me Cole. Maybe both."

[not_the_question]

"Both. That tends to be how it works for me as well."

After all, the Doctor doesn't have a name. He tilts his head in curiosity.

"What I don't understand is why you... Well."

The Doctor turns around. Nope, still remembers Cole being there.

"You feel like some other creatures I encountered before.... But you're not."

[killedwithlove]

Cole watches him, but he doesn't look confused, just attentive and vaguely curious, which is how he is about most new things.

"Which other creatures?"

[not_the_question]

"They don't exist here... At least I don't think they do. Maybe they do. They're called the Silence. They're very easy to forget."

Hence the name.

"You feel similar. But different too. Can't tell if it's just a difference in universe or not."

He turns around again and turns back again.

"Nope. Maybe you're cousins."

[killedwithlove]

"Most people forget me once I leave. Or if I tell them to. Sometimes, the only way to help someone is if they don't remember they've been helped. And because everyone forgot Cole... they forget me. I think. I'd ask Rhys, but I don't think he ever wants to see me again and I can't make him not see me."

Cole has never heard of the Silence. "Solas would know about the Silence, if they're in this world. Solas... knows lots. But he's not here, either. Different reason. I don't any the Silence. I know The Iron Bull. And now a The Doctor."

[not_the_question]

"Oh. So, like telepathy."

Probably won't work on the Doctor for reasons. The Silence were odd ones, but he could remember forgetting them, so his defences have changed drastically after meeting them.

"I can understand that. I one time went across the entire universe deleting myself from history because too many people knew about me. It's better to be just a legend."

[killedwithlove]

"Maybe."

Yes. And no. Either way, Cole isn't really sure. Reality just conspires to make people forget him.

He nods as the Doctor speaks. "I don't understand."

[not_the_question]

"Well, people are known by their reputations. Their stories. I... was able to find all the references to me and remove them. Ah..." Primitives. They're primitive here. "...Purge them. Any scrolls about me, I burned."

More or less.

[killedwithlove]

"You wanted to be forgotten."

Something in Cole twists unpleasantly, but he reminds himself that it's not the same. The Doctor wanted to be forgotten. He was free in his choice. "I understand remove. But how did you remove their memories?"

[not_the_question]

"Yes. The name had gotten bigger than the person."

Basically. It's hard to explain.

"Oh, some it was easy. Just reprogrammed their brains. Others, well. They had their memories, but no proof or evidence that anything had been more than just a dream."

Like he said. He wanted to be no more than a legend.

[killedwithlove]

"What's reprogrammed?"

It's a word that doesn't mean much to him. He understands the intent behind it, he thinks.

[not_the_question]

"Em... Sorry. Technical term. Doesn't matter. Such things don't exist here."

Well. He's going to need a bigger shovel to dig out of this one.

[killedwithlove]

Cole looks hard, trying to see beyond the shard, he can feel the massive net of threads that converge around the Doctor, so many lives and people and so much pain.

"There... are people. So many, know something is gone, maybe not something, threads cut, bleeding forgotten loss..." He draws back and shakes his head, pressing both hands to his eyes. "Hurts to see. Shard too bright. Black hole of hurt spinning out of sight..."

[not_the_question]

That gets the Doctor's immediate attention. All of his mental and emotional barriers snap into place. He doesn't know how this creature knows what he just said or why. But the Doctor now feels threatened by this place in a way he hasn't before. Billions of years of creating mental blocks against others - especially the Master - he's had plenty of practice...

The only outward sign of any change is when he brings his hand to his mouth and looks at the other man. "Reading minds without permission is rude."