[OPEN] Kindness is a light in Kirkwall

[killedwithlove]

WHO: Cole; anyone who needs him
WHAT: Cole's been convinced to come to Kirkwall to help people so he is going to help the hell out of them.
WHEN: Covering the month of Bloomingtide
WHERE: Anywhere BUT the Gallows
NOTES: Will probably end up dealing with lots of the awful from the Gallows. PM this journal or jemisard for an individual starter

Cole never wanted to come here. He wanted to leave, to go elsewhere, but he was convinced that here he is most needed and thus, here he is.

Kirkwall scares him. Deeply scares him, so much that he barely goes into the city at first, but he slowly starts picking out the individuals among the screaming horror of the city, the people who he can help, who still be touched and brought back.

Comments

[in_death_sacrifice]

"I can't let the lyrium win... I just... can't." But how to fight an enemy that can't be fought in a conventional way? He can't stand it, can't take this enemy that's unbeatable. Sure, he can fight those possessed by it and end their suffering, but... the lyrium itself... He hates feeling so powerless.

He watches the younger man, curiously. "But aren't you...? Never mind." It's surely just some odd quirk of his speaking, when he speaks of dying. Kain doesn't know a whole lot about Cole, other than sometimes he says extremely weird and confusing things. But there's a comfort to him and his presence despite all of that.

"The dawn will come." The song had inspired a great deal of hope in the Inquisition at a time when it was most needed, if all the stories are right about. He doesn't know, he wasn't there at the time. But he hopes for the same to happen now.

[killedwithlove]

"Alive? No. Sort of. I could be banished, but I don't think that's dying."

He rocks back and forth a bit, like he's comforting something that he isn't holding.

"You don't have to defeat things with combat. You can't defeat starvation with a sword, but you can with sharing your meal."

[in_death_sacrifice]

"Sort of. Sort of? Huh." He repeats that in a vague way, thinking it over. Those words certainly tell him a lot, and maybe not enough, he's not sure. Kain looks Cole over curiously, more fascinated than scared. Should he be more unsettled by the idea? Maybe if he were a mage. "Yet you're here... you seem... substantial enough."

He sighs, looking down and then nodding. "You're right, though. I have a tendency to face my battles in that way, as if they were battles in truth... but... that's not always the case. I just... I find physical combat easier to deal with. I always have. A mental or emotional battle... or otherwise... that's always been difficult for me."

[killedwithlove]

"Yes. I'm here. I'm manifested, not an abomination."

He reaches out to softly touch one of Kain's hands with a fingertip. His nails are dark with dirt, stark against his pale skin. "The hardest fight is one where you must endure and resist without retaliating. Don't fight with your sword. Not this. Fight it by reaching to others, so if you are hit, they will help you stay standing."

[in_death_sacrifice]

Kain glances down. It's a real hand, made of solid flesh, not that of a spirit or other manifestation. So he's real. Despite... not being so. He finds himself more fascinated than scared, though. After all, Cole has already proven himself to be a comforting presence, a calming one.

"You're very much real. I can see that." He has so many questions, he has to wonder why he chose this... or if he chose at all. But his mind is on what he's talking about for now. "The fight without a sword really is the hardest of all... I've never faced anything so difficult before. But... I need to try. I want to stay standing, as you say. Does it get any easier, reaching out to others? I've never been... very good at that."