faderift | Fireside Chats

He did know it, and it was a bit worrying to be hearing Krem's voice coming out of the other person's mouth. Desire demon. It's the first thing that goes through his mind as his eyes narrow at the edge of the hat and bangs, his hand slowly moving away from the log towards his staff, touching it, but not outright grabbing it.

Sam definitely feels the presence of a spirit around the stranger, but it's... strange. It's not around him, there are no murmurs of 'nothing' words, and he shouldn't be able to sense a possession... could he? Would a demon be able to read his thoughts outside the Fade? The presence is just... there, right in front of him.

"Well guess 'who' was a bad choice of words. What are you?"

Nari narrowed her eyes warily, catching Sam's slow movement toward his staff. She made as if to scratch her back, but used the motion to loosen the blade at her back in its scabbard. Then, as an afterthought, she scratched her back anyway. It had been itching.

The 'boy' across the fire seemed to unnerve Sam more than her, which made her assume there was something magical going on that she couldn't see. All the better to let Sam handle it. Not sure what she could do to a spirit, if indeed it was one... although it seemed to have a body?

For now, she was content to let it play.

They were getting nervous. People usually did. It was all right, because they weren't attacking him, and they'd forget when he was gone. Probably.

That, and there was still a chance for understanding. The Fade was singing around one of them.

"I didn't always know," he confessed in answer to the question. "I forgot myself the way they forget me, so I wasn't real."

He added one more piece of wood to the fire. "Spirit. I'd like it be spirit."

The tension in Sam's shoulders lessen at the last several words. He... it? was a spirit? His glare softens a bit, looking at the being with more curiosity, though still cautious.

"You're a spirit?" How was... had he come out of a rift? "Which one?"

Nari steepled her fingers and rest her chin on the tips, eyes flickering back and forth between the two as they spoke. It made her smile slightly as Sam became less suspicious when the boy spoke of being a spirit.

It's why she liked Sam. He knew to be suspicious, but he also knew that he didn't know, and that spirit didn't necessarily mean 'bad'. Probably came of being a ladarelen'elgar.

The concept was still a little hard to grasp. There must have been a time when he was certain... but he can't remember. Others had to help him find it again.

"Kindness, caring... compassion." That's it. That was the one. Wasn't it? "I want to help."

He worried that he'd disrupted their conversation. He'd only been talking to himself, or so he'd thought. But sometimes people caught sight of him even when he didn't mean them to.

"The fire was starting to die down," he added, by way of explanation. "When I got close, I could hear the way you feel about him."

Compassion? That did sound like something that kind of spirit would want to do, but how was it here? Like this?

Sam ventures a gaze at Nahariel for a moment to see how she's dealing with this. She seems like she's doing well with all of this judging by how she's watching them.

The mention of 'him' certainly brings Sam's attention back to the spirit. "Who?" Honestly he has an idea on exactly who he's talking about, but just to be sure.

Nahariel's brow quirks at Cole's words, and then she looks over at the mage beside her. If there was some kind of romantic or personal or familial entanglement the spirit could sense, Sam hadn't mentioned it. As much as she wanted to know--because she always wanted to know--she didn't want to make one of her few friends here uncomfortable.

"If I stay," she said quietly, "will I be eavesdropping on something private?"

"The Charger," Cole answered, at the exact same time Nahariel spoke.

....oh.

His head had tilted up a bit while they'd been talking, until the other two would almost be able to see his eyes. Now he looked down again.

"You were wondering whether to say anything. The words got wedged."

Sam sighs, bringing up his free hand to run through his hair. So it could read thoughts. Fascinating - it made sense if it wanted to 'help' - but also a bit worrying.

He had heard what both of them had said, but to which to answer first. After some thought Sam looks to Nahariel. "Not really eavesdropping if you're already part of the conversation. None of it is really private." Yet, but he's not about to just send her away.

"You've met him, or are you just saying what's floating around in my head?"

She nods, satisfied that she has permission to hear, and then leans forward to watch the two talk, curiosity shining along with the firelight in her eyes.

"I see him sometimes. Not as much as you." That could almost be taken for teasing, if it hadn't come out so monotone. "You like to watch, but you like talking more. It means you can be close."

He tilts his head. This time, he'd better ask before speaking up.

"Should I tell you what he thinks of you?"

The hand going through his hair moves to rub the back of his neck as he listens to the spirit. It is a little embarrassing to hear his thoughts voiced out, but that particular thing wasn't exactly a secret. Still having Nahariel watching them is a bit flustering even if he did give permission, though he doubted she would be like Gavin or Lady LeBlanc and teasing him to no end.

The question catches him completely off guard, the tension quickly stiffening up his shoulders again, but for a different reason. What Krem thought of him?

Yes "No." His tone is firm though not out of anger, but to stress that as much he desired to actually know he didn't want to hear. Shouldn't hear. "Those are his to keep."

Nari's small smile broadens as Sam answers in the negative to the spirit's offer. She doesn't know the mage well enough to be proud of him, but she feels the warmth of it anyway. Perhaps instead of pride, it was just... good to know that she'd made the right choice in trusting him.

It was hard to be offered things that don't belong to you--or to the person offering them--and say no. Especially if you wanted them, which Sam obviously did.

"Do I get to ask who we're talking about?" she queried into the silence that followed, hoping to nudge the conversation back to safer ground. "Obviously the two of you know already, but I'm in the dark."

He could answer the question... but he'd already stirred things up enough by making himself known in the first place. So Cole turned to Sam instead.

"You should tell her. She wants to help you, too."

He supposed that the Spirit saying it was 'the Charger' wasn't a specific enough clue for Nahariel to guess whom they were talking about. The fact that she hadn't picked up on the voice he had mimicked probably meant she hadn't met him either?

A small sigh before he looks away from the spirit towards Nahariel. "We're talking about Krem. From Bull's Chargers."

She shook her head slightly. "I haven't met him. I know of the Chargers, but I guess I haven't actually run across any of them." She hadn't actually run across many people in general. Too preoccupied with making sure Sina was all right, and then with the garden... which was also geared toward making sure Sina was all right.

The huntress kept trying to make herself think of the Inquisition as a clan, but it wasn't the same. She was only here for Sina, to make sure she got the best care possible for the eerily glowing rift-shard in her chest. That's why she'd risk plague in a bog, that's why she'd go out hunting rare plants, that's why she'd walk barefoot through the Frostbacks. Not for the Inquisition. For her clan-sister. Why pretend otherwise?

She realized she'd started staring glumly into the fire, and quickly looked back up at Sam.

"Sorry," she said with an apologetic smile, "tell me about him?"

Edited 2015-12-13 00:15 (UTC)

In the moment when they were both looking at one another, the few seconds where he was being ignored, Cole smiled.

The fresh wood caught fire, the flames giving off a soft pop. The next time they looked, there would be no one there.

The grip on his staff lessens a bit more as Sam uses his free hand to rub the back of his neck. She wanted him to explain Krem to her? Where did he start on that?

"He's... tough, strong, reliable... someone who you can depend on. Doesn't pull his punches." That last one has him chuckling a bit, leaning back as he settles in thinking about Krem. "He has a big presence, and others flock to him, taken in by his charm and how personable he is."

There's a soft sigh as Sam looks away, eyes turning back towards the fire, a small smile pulling the corners of his lips up. "He's thoughtful of the care of others. Very gentle as much as he is firm. He surprises you with small gestures, and while it isn't very often he has a great laugh."

"I take it you were taken in by his charm?" Nari teases, nudging Sam's foot again. She immediately feels a bit sheepish, though. Perhaps too soon to rib? She leans back on her hands and smiles encouragingly at him. "He sounds like a wonderful fellow, and you deserve something wonderful. It sounded like you had some worries, though?"

A snort and a bark of laughter is Sam's immediate reply, and it isn't for a several long seconds before he settles down to speak. "Honestly it was probably watching him practice and then having him thouroughly kicking my ass that started it."

It was Nahariel's turn to snort with laughter. "I mostly feel sore and bruised after a thorough drubbing, not besotted, but it's not for me to tell you what to find appealing."

"No, just merely pointing out that it wasn't his charm that drew me in at first. It was watching and learning from him - granted painfully - that started it all. I didn't start seeing the charm until after we shared that kind of companionship; he slowly opened up to me through it... Though that probably isn't too far off really."

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