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

Entry tags:

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

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.

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"If I have food, I'm taking it to someone who needs it." He doesn't eat himself, but he does feed others, people and animals.

"I like the nuggalopes. They're calm and confident. They need little to be happy."

"He doesn't, trust me. The little shit is spoiled rotten." That won't stop him from claiming otherwise."

And of course she smiles at his assessment on the nuggalopes, glad to see someone around here with taste. Some still shun them because they're unfamiliar, but Korrin can't imagine that mindset at all.

"Have you tried to ride one yet? They're better than horses, with those hands that make it so much easier when you're in steep terrain. Broader, too. For someone might size, that's important.

"No. I don't usually ride animals. They have enough weight to carry."

And Cole doesn't tire, not like a mortal. He can just keep walking. Or simply move himself.

"True enough, if they're on the supply lines. It's a long way to anywhere without any mount at all, though. Asher always seems a bit restless if he doesn't get in a ride each day, even if it's outside the gates." She rubs at the honey badger tattoo on her forearm absently; the ink is dark, but it's not so new as to still be healing.

"You look a little familiar." Vaguely. Sort of. Even if she can't place it exactly, Korrin goes with her gut. "What's your name?"

"I've been here before. I had to go and help some people for a while, but now I've come back."

He rocks back and forth on his feet. "Cole. I'm Cole. You're Korrin."

"Wait, we met? Huh, I must be worse with names and faces than I thought. Sorry about that, Cole." The Vashoth woman shakes her head, her expression apologetic. "There's so many coming and going that it's hard to keep track. Once this place became a refugee site, I stopped trying."

"Maybe. Maybe not. I know who you are. I know who most of the people are. And the animals."

He doesn't think he met this body and soul with his own, just through others.

"Well, it's not like I'm hard to miss. The height and horns will do that." There might be four or five other qunari around, and that's it, out of countless humans and some elves. "And the complaints of people who don't like mages, 'oxmen' or those who decide not to kiss the Chantry's ass." She shrugs, not at all repentant for daring to exist. That's been the case even before the temple exploded and the Inquisition needed all the help it could get.

"You must have been with us for a long time even with that break, to know so many. When did you join up?"

"They're not oxen horns. The Iron Bull's horns are like a Dragons. I told him that and he was annoyed he hadn't thought of that first so he could be The Iron Dragon."

He hums and sways, thinking. "Haven. I came to Haven, heavy weight, blood his side, the door won't open, it must open, I have to tell them, tell them the lyrium marches on them."

"'The Iron Dragon'. Oh, Maker. That would've been perfect." Korrin's grinning until Cole continues, and what he reveals has her raising an eyebrow. "Wait, you arrived to warn us about the Red Templars? How on earth did you find that out? Why were you watching them in the first place?"

Cole hums and nods, rocking back on his heels as he does so. "I was with them. Watching. Waiting. I thought they might need to kill me to stop me but I had to go to get them stopped instead."

He rubs at his cheek with the back of his fingers and hand. "I wasn't fast enough."

Korrin's gaze is sympathetic as she looks him over, remembering the night where everything went to hell so quickly. She doesn't remember seeing him, but amidst the townspeople that needed helping and the Venatori and Red Templars that needed killing, a lot of details were lost.

"Still, though. I'm impressed. That you stuck it out that long, let alone hauled ass to find us, takes a lot of guts. It is weird that they didn't try to kill you, though. I can't imagine they'd take kindly to someone poking about their business."

"They couldn't see me. I didn't want them to."

He could just mean the way so many rogues can make themselves not be noticed. But he doesn't, and it's fairly clear from the way he says it. He means exactly what he says. "Usually, people can't notice me unless they need me. It's easy to just make them not see me at all."

Normally, that's just what Korrin would assume. She's worked with so many rogues and is dating one; she's well aware of the ways they can avoid detection. But the way Cole says it has her raising an eyebrow again.

"...just 'make' them not see you? What exactly do you mean by that?" She can make some more guesses, but when her curiosity is roused, the Vashoth woman prefers to cut to the chase.

"I make them not notice me. I didn't think you would, but you did." He shrugs. "Before, in the Spire, no one could see me, even if I wanted them to, but I've learned to be seen. Only people who needed me to help could see me. They needed Compassion. Mercy. Anything to end the Despair."

"...and you're a spirit." Korrin sighs, annoyed at herself for not catching on earlier. Her interest and focus has never been on the inhabitants of the Fade except in terms of how to avoid possession. She's a battle mage, immersed in the threats of the physical world, and she's always left other matters to those better suited. But now there's a spirit in the flesh before her, speaking about the Spire. There's the temptation to ask if he knew Adelaide, but that will have to wait.

"Uh-huh. And whose body did you take over to make that happen?" He doesn't seem hostile, but how else would he have a physical form? The only thing that's weird about it is that the person doing so is not the typical cackling demon.

"Yes."

He looks a little offended. "No one! It's mine. I'm not a revenant or an abomination. This is me. I'm not a demon."

Korrin raises an eyebrow, too confused to care that she caused offense. "...seriously? I didn't think that was possible. I've seen plenty of spirits and demons on this side of the Veil before, they're never something you'd mistake for a person unless they had someone to ride. How does that even work?"

There must be something to it, though, right? Skyhold has many mages, some more attuned to spirits and the Fade than herself. If he was an abomination, a danger, they would have noticed.

"Why would I not be serious?"

He looks at her face, still calm, still non-threatening. "Solas said I was unique. A spirit who manifested as a person. It was the shape that would help, so it was the shape I took on."

"Solas...right, the hedge mage guy who led us here. Yeah, I heard he was an expert on the Fade and a lot of things in it." Korrin can't say she's close to him at all, as their personalities and areas of focus are entirely different. Still, he has been a part of things since the beginning, and the leaders of the Inquisition seem to trust his advice. The Herald did, too.

"I don't suppose you could change that shape, if you wanted? Having a dragon on our side would be badass." She's not expecting to hear 'yes' on that, but still, her look is wistful for a moment.

"... could you change yours?"

"Not yet, but you're talking to a mage. If I learned to be a Shapeshifter, absolutely." Korrin smirks, not seriously considering that yet. Maybe one day, but she likes her own form just fine and doesn't think she'll be in need of more than that. "So, why that form exactly? If people normally can't see you, then I guess it doesn't matter, but I'm still curious."

"I'm not a mage."

He has no magic. Not like a mage.

"It was the shape that would help. Cole's wish for a life without magic."

Her eyes grow sad at that, and she shakes her head. "So many mages see what they have as a curse, and the hatred of Templars and ordinary people hardly help. It's a shame that got to him, too. Fucking magisters, they ruined it for everyone else." No offense, Mae. She's one of the ~~hot~~ good ones.

"Cole's life was unhappy. 'Little monster, you're a demon, boy, going to beat that demon out of you.'" His father's voice and inflection. "Killed Mama. Bunny dead. Have to stop him, have a knife, use it like Mama showed me... Then the Templars found him, beat him and dragged him back to the White Spire in chains, told him he was cursed, that he was evil. Magic never gave him anything."

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