faderift | [Open] Time for some enjoyment

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[Open] Time for some enjoyment

WHO: Iskandar and OPEN
WHAT: Iskandar is here to have a good time. Join him?
WHEN: Throughout Drakonis
WHERE: Skyhold and other fun places
NOTES: Probably lots of cute times. Maybe some sad times depending on the threads. But mostly a lot of cute and loud affection. Because Iskandar.

A. It's a new dog!

He'd been wanting one since first seeing the mabari. Now he had one of his own. A fine pup who tended to spend much of his time tripping over his own feet but was ever eager to be with and please the large man. Really he'd been told that an older dog would be recommended but they'd laid eyes on each other and that had been that. After all, once that bond was formed there simply was no going back.

And so one could find him with a puppy in one of the more open areas. They were training and it seemed that the puppy was at least rather intelligent at picking up on things! So long as Iskandar used his native tongue for the commands, something he'd decided to do just to solidify their bond further.

"Heh. What a clever boy you are, my Achilles Alexander!" The pup gave a bark and then happily ate up the piece of meat that he was given. And yes, Iskandar sure had named this dog after himself.

B. Training is important

The best way to perfect how one used their adjusted powers was to, well, use them. So he was around the training grounds to work with the couple of them that he felt could safely be done here. Name the teleportation and invisibility ones. So it was easy enough to spot him standing in one location only to reappear in another. At times he frowned and rubbed his beard as he considered what he'd been doing before trying again.

One could feel free to interrupt him though. He wasn't needing the concentration to do this really.

C. Memories rise to the surface

There were times when even Iskandar needed a moment to reflect, to think on the sadder days. Though he never regretted any of them that hardly meant they didn't weight on his heart. Many had been lost under his command or had given up much to follow him. Then there were times when he remembered Hephaestion and how perhaps he would never see him again. Or that his son would be someone he'd never lay eyes on.

So he was in the gardens with a kitten and a mabari pup curled up together on his lap. Both were sound asleep as if they'd been playing hard until that moment. He smiled down at them fondly, stroked their soft ears as he admired their pure innocence.

"It has been long since I had your purity, little ones."

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Honestly he felt that the pressure of being here had caused her to think about this too much. To question the existence of her own world and those from others. Smiling gently at her, he finally just nodded, letting her express the rest of her thoughts. Those with vast intelligence could spend too much time dwelling in their own mind from his experience. A terrible place to become trapped in.

"Many things will happen in your life, whether there be alternate universes or otherwise. They will guide you and change you and make you who you are and who others are. Even if you were to never remember those here, you would not be forgotten. Your mark would remain on this place and in the hearts of others. So I do not feel that all of this is wrong. I feel that this is one path in our lives and now it is up to us to decide what we do with it."

The idea of one day leaving Thedas and not remembering the people she'd met, only to have them never forget her in turn, was that much more depressing for Hermione, and she had to force herself not to cry all over again. Iskandar was doing his best, but they were two very different people, with two very different ways of looking at the world. What he found comforting wouldn't necessarily be her version of comforting... but he was trying, and that meant enough for Hermione. More than enough, really, considering how alone she'd been feeling.

Though she didn't feel as though she'd exactly received much in the way of guidance, talking it out rather than letting her thoughts and fears silently plague her mind did help somewhat, and she found herself nodding slowly in response. "I've never exactly been good at making decisions without thoroughly researching all of my options. Unfortunately, life doesn't really have much of a means of conducting research, unlike academia."

It explained why she'd spent so much of her childhood in a library. It made things so much simpler.

"It is true."

Iskandar smiled a little bit and then let out a sigh. Not one of regret though for that simply wasn't in his nature. Just a sort of sadness but also a peace. If he could have been able to research and plan out everything, if it had been possible, how would his life really have ended? How would Hephaestion's?

"But, that is why we have people who are good at the things we are not in our lives. And we can rely on them to handle the things too hard for us. It is the beauty of so many living in the universe."

Part of Hermione wanted to pipe up and argue that it wasn't right to simply sit back and rely on other people to handle the difficult problems in their lives, and that she should know, since she was the one people usually relied upon and here she was, lost in a world very different from her own and stymied by the prospect of a relationship. But she didn't want to argue, didn't want to debate; she just wanted to know what to do to make this a less painful decision.

"Does that mean you'll handle this for me?" she asked dryly. Fingers wrapping around the wooden pendant on her neck, she sounded more sincere as she asked, "What should I do about Jamie?"

"I more meant that you can turn to others to help you figure out what to do. Having others solve your problems helps no one."

He was quiet for a moment or so, stroking his beard slowly. Not for any reason one might think though. Rather...

"Jamie is the one with feelings for you?"

She noted the way he was stroking his beard, and she frowned over how much that reminded her of her father. Considering that her father didn't have a beard, that was quite an accomplishment.

"He is," she replied. "I wasn't sure whether or not you two even knew one another."

There was no reason to think they didn't, but it was hardly as though Hermione kept tabs on which of her friends spent time with her other friends. She'd be surprised to learn that Iskandar and Kirk were as close as they were, all things considered.

"I do know him. He's a fine young man."

He nodded slowly but his words to her weren't about to change just because he knew the identity of the man now. Knowing someone didn't mean he was automatically going to see to it that Hermione dropped everything she loved to change her life. Doing that would be wrong.

"Because of that I feel you should talk with him. No matter what comes of it, you both deserve that."

She nodded in response. Jamie was a fine young man, there was no denying that. That was never called into question, and she would irritated by anyone who tried doing so. The question here was whether that was enough for her to - even temporarily - put aside her feelings for someone she may or may not ever see again.

Of course, though, Iskandar was right, and she knew that much. She couldn't very well make this decision without Jamie. It wouldn't be fair to either of them, for her to pretend that she didn't know he'd eventually develop feelings for her, if he hadn't already.

"Yes, I think-... I think that's best. He deserves to know." Forcing a small smile on her face that was compromised by the sense of nervousness, she looked up at him and added, "After all, what was the point of coming back from the future if we weren't going to do anything with the knowledge we'd gained?"

"You are welcome to come find me after you talk. Whether it goes well or poorly, I will be here if you need someone. I know those matters can be very difficult to deal with."

And she deserved to have someone who wasn't going to judge her for whatever decision she made in this. He certainly would be that for her.

Nodding absently, Hermione took a deep breath, trying to get herself to relax. It wasn't quite working, but at least Iskandar had been able to help her feel a little better. She would tell Jamie, and they would talk about where to go from there, and whatever happened would happen. Jamie knew about Ron, after all. If Ron ever did show up... Jamie would understand. She hoped.

The possibility of Ron turning up in Thedas was what was making her stomach twist up into knots, so she forced herself to widen that already-forced smile as she refocused on Iskandar. "Thank you, Iskandar. I don't know how I came to view you as such a constant confidante, but I appreciate it. Really, I do."

"Life brings people together when they need it the most. This seems to be what you need and so life had brought me to you. I wouldn't really call it fate but it does seem to work out in a similar fashion." At least it made sense in its own weird way. Something like that shouldn't work yet here it was doing exactly that.

Hermione didn't believe in fate, nor did she properly believe that "life" could simply bring two people together, despite some rather remarkable circumstances hinting towards the contrary throughout her lifetime. But she'd learned not to question other people's beliefs, especially not Iskandar's, and so she only cracked a small smile and looked down at the long neglected puppy that was now nudging her for attention.

Scratching behind his ears and glancing around at their surroundings as though just remembering where they were, she murmured, "Fate is what we make of it, so I suppose your interpretation of it is just as true as anything else. Either way, I'm grateful that you always seem to find me when I need you most."

"I'll have to keep that good work up since I have come to view you as a daughter of sorts." He laughed gently but it was clear he was being serious. She was family to him, truly a daughter. He admired her mind and her strength but also wanted to protect her. To see her grow. He even wanted to be the one to keep an eye on whoever would finally take her hand. After all, Hermione only deserved the very best of...everything.

"I do want to be there whenever you need me. No matter when that might be."

"You have?"

Hermione had thought that occasional comparisons she'd made between Iskandar and a father figure had been borne solely from the age difference, so it was highly likely that he thought the same of her. But if he could be believed, there was quite a gap between his age and the majority of the people he'd met in Thedas, and she highly doubted he thought of all of them as children. Perhaps they really did have some sort of special bond.

Not wanting him to think she found that off-putting, Hermione offered him a small smile as she replied, "I'm glad to have you here, Iskandar. There have been days when I honestly don't know what I would have done without you. I just hope that, if you ever needed some sort of help or advice, I can repay the favor."

His smile turned to mild confusion as he brought a hand up to stroke his beard. That little habit of his when he was thinking about something.

"You know, people keep offering that to me. To be there for me when I need it. Do people think I might not be honest about how I feel?" He wasn't insulted, just curious.

Tilting her head up at him, Hermione wondered just how serious he was being, and then concluded that Iskandar was usually sincere when it came to this sort of thing.

"Most people have too much pride to admit when they need help. I know I do, usually; I'm just lucky that most of my friends can see right through me. You wear your heart on your sleeve, but I suppose those who care about you just don't want to take the risk that you hide your troubles behind a smile."

"I would never do that. It would be dishonest about what is truly in my heart and on my mind. I have no problems with showing rage when I am angered. Nor a flood of tears when I am in deep sorrow. To hide my pain from those I love would only serve to wound them more than to see me in pain in the first place. For it is when we hide our sorrows that we make those around us feel the most helpless."

To him it seemed unnecessary to do that. Certainly not within his character if nothing else.

Hermione thought back to all of the times she'd hidden her true emotions, or had acted out on an impulse and smoothed it over with a lie (or by simply ignoring that anything out of the ordinary had happened). She wondered if Iskandar would think ill of her for that, and she shifted a little uncomfortable, glancing down.

"Not if the other person doesn't know that we're hiding anything at all. Sometimes people just want to... spare others the hurt or concern, especially if nothing can be done about it."

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[Open] Time for some enjoyment

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