[closed AND open??] I'm not sick, but I'm not well

[onlyhymns]

WHO: Cade & you, starters for specific people
WHAT: He's back from Rivain and doing terribly!
WHEN: Harvestmere
WHERE: Kirkwall
NOTES: the usual Cade stuff, there's always a chance it'll come up

I. Gwen's Household

He hadn't had time to begin training before the mission to Rivain, so Cade has only recently become a frequent visitor to Casa Vauquelin. He doesn't quite understand her relationship to Wren, but Cade wasn't raised in a barn and knows how to enter a person's home without making a nuisance of himself, so he always knocks and waits to be let in before he'll proceed to the room where Wren will be waiting.
Whomever opens the door gets to deal with him. This happens several times a week.

II. Wren

Cade is easily upset and even whiny on his worst days, but when he's training, he's all business. There's been a nervous energy underlying his every motion, which might be chalked up to just who he is, but also may be a result of just how incredibly tits-up things went on the mission to Rivain. Each session he does exactly what's expected of him, but something about his demeanor indicates he's about to reach a breaking point. It might be bad.

III. Simon

The worst part about not being a Templar anymore is the continued addiction to lyrium, which Cade has learned pretty quickly he can't ignore. Every week he meets with Simon to procure their allotted dosage, and though he doesn't need an escort, having a friend-- is Simon his friend??-- nearby at least makes the process a little more bearable.
It's still degrading as all get out, but Simon is big and blocks Cade's view of most people who might cast him judging glances, so that's a blessing.
"The Commander started going off lyrium," he murmurs to Simon as the line inches forward, "he didn't die from it." ...wait, where is the Commander again? "...I think."

IV. Beleth

Cade couldn't have left the ship any faster when they got back, and if Beleth hadn't seen him leave someone might have thought he'd fallen overboard in transit. He vanished for several days, but has reappeared with a knock at her office door.

V. Open

Feeling that the Inquisition army barracks would be more secure (and cheaper) than staying in an inn forever, Cade has moved his limited belongings in to stay with the assortment of soldiers and scouts from the area. Surprisingly, it's been a nice way to start over; he never talks, so he might as well be a new intake, which means nobody knows his history. He's just some guy, and that's exactly the way he prefers it: blended into the mass, forgettable, forgotten. Invisible.

He can often be found practicing archery with the soldiers, or helping out down at the docks, or reading in a pub, now that it's gotten too chilly to do so outside.

Comments

[onlyhymns]

"I know," Cade replies, a little sheepishly. He was here at the time the Champion of Kirkwall was stomping around on everything, and he remembers that there was an incident at Sundermount. A whole clan of Dalish killed, just like that.
"The cliffs are scrubby," he muses, beginning to walk in the direction of the land-facing city limits, "but there are goats there. Not a lot of forest except what's a day or so out, I think." He actually seems to be enjoying himself, talking about things that have nothing to do with stupid mistakes or Templars or any of that nonsense. "...and I've got some food, unless you want to get more."

[arlathvhen]

Beleth follows along after Cade, listening to him. It's nice, when he can be distracted like this. Hunting will be good for him--maybe she should take him more often. But not too often, or it wouldn't work. Damn. She'll have to try to number crunch that later.

"I'm sure that your food will be fine. And we're going to be hunting, anyway. So if we do a good enough job, we should be fine. I think that the cliffs will work! Goats are pretty good." Pause. "And if the goats are on the cliffs, you could probably just tip them over instead of wasting an arrow." She grins at that, nudging him gently with an arrow. It's a joke! A hunting joke. Kind of.

[onlyhymns]

"I suppose that is the point of hunting," Cade muses, a tiny smirk forming at the corner of his mouth. "...I don't think you can tip a goat. They'll sooner tip you." Goats are made for cliffs, after all. People not so much.

[arlathvhen]

"That sounds like a challenge." Beleth grins, pressing her hands together. "The age old debate of people vs goats. Who will tip who?" She pauses for a moment, then spreads her hands apart, a calmer smile now on her face. "That's a joke. I'm pretty sure the goats would win if I tried it, and I'd rather not." It'd be a terribly embarrassing way to die, and Cade would probably get blamed for it.

[onlyhymns]

Cade's expression is nervous until he realizes Beleth is joking, and then it relaxes slightly. But only slightly. "They would definitely win," he says quietly, hoping he's not killing the moment.

They walk for a while, with or without small talk, but Cade doesn't speak again in any substantial way until they've reached the path leading up the rocky incline of the Wounded Coast. He shields his eyes, scanning the area. "We'll need to watch for spiders," he says with a wince. "...and... bandits. But. Spiders."

[arlathvhen]

"I knew I should have taken my lightning bow," Beleth mutters, squinting up the path. "But we'll be fine, Cade. We've faced worse than spiders and bandits." She smiles at him encouragingly, and then pauses, attention suddenly focused on her pack, which she digs through.

"Since you have a bow with you as well, you can borrow some of my poisons, if you'd like. This one is a poisonous cloud--tell me if you use it, so I'll know to dodge it--and this one contaminates the enemy's blood, so that when they die, they burst into a poisonous cloud. And this one is just a regular poison." She takes out a little unmarked vial, a calm smile on her face. "Obviously, these aren't for hunting. But they'll be sure to stop bandits."

It should be noted that she hadn't grabbed any of this when she left with Cade. These are just the kind of things that she keeps on her person.

[onlyhymns]

"Is there anything worse than spiders," Cade mumbles, only half to himself, as they tread along the rocky path. He stops when Beleth does, watching her with interest and mild surprise. "Oh, um... I'm all right." He knows how to use the occasional poison, but for hunting goats it seems a little excessive, and the idea here is to not make a shitshow out of everything he does.
"I think... regular arrows will do."

[arlathvhen]

"I think wasps are worse. There are wasps that eat spiders, you know." And do worse than that, but she's not getting into that. Cade has enough trouble without the gory details of wasp reproduction. "But...I've never heard of giant wasps. Could you imagi--no, I don't want to think about it."

She gives a shrug at Cade's declination, and stores them away, for now. No need to get them out unless they run into anything that needs it. The silence that follows their climb is comfortable, companionable. Cade's always been good about that--not making the silence awkward, or filling it up with nonsense.

[onlyhymns]

"Do spiders not eat wasps?" he asks, wincing. For the record, he's not talking about the kind of spider you find in the corner. He's talking about the kind you find in caves that is twice your size and will tear your guts out with its awful spider mandibles or whatever they are. These are a reality of the world they live in and I don't understand how anyone sleeps at night.
He shudders, but at least it's a regular, bug-hating shudder and not the kind that comes laced with a flashback or other reminder of actual trauma.

They've walked for a bit when Cade pauses, gesturing to the ground to point out a small set of hoofprints. Looks like they're going the right direction.

[arlathvhen]

"I...suppose they do." Beleth admits, though she can't help but wonder who would win, if there were also wasps as big as spiders. Actually, she should probably just be grateful those wasps don't exist. Spiders are bad enough.

When Cade pauses, Beleth turns to him, and then to the ground that he gestures at. She squints at it, then the direction they're headed in, and gives a short nod, heading in the direction indicated. After a few moments, however, she turns, and whispers to Cade.

"...Do you ever talk to other people about me?"

[onlyhymns]

It could be that it's a whisper or that the question just caught him off-guard, but Cade nearly jumps out of his skin when Beleth asks. "What??" he stammers, "no-- no!" Not that he can recall, anyway. The question itself presupposes that Cade talks to anyone about anything, which many would note is not the case.

[arlathvhen]

"Oh--Wait, no. Calm down. It's not a bad thing." Beleth quickly puts her hands up in a pacifying manner, and mentally kicks herself for poor choice in language.

"I don't mind you talking about me with other people, I trust that you won't say anything rude. I was asking because I've had people come and talk about you--Nothing bad, I promise." She adds that quickly, in case Cade doesn't trust her. "Simon asked me how you were doing, Cyril mentioned that he gave you a puzzlebox. It was just idle conversation, but it made me wonder if people bring me up to you as often."

Of course, Beleth does actually talk to people, which might explain the difference.

[onlyhymns]

Cade doesn't calm down, not immediately, but at least Beleth is able to reassure him that his panic shouldn't be too intense. And then... immediately ruins it by saying she's talked about him, which is something he generally knows to be true but isn't thrilled about.

"I... no, not. Recently." They used to talk about her a lot, back after The Incident. He feels lucky they don't anymore, yet it makes his skin crawl to know there are still conversations that take place around him.

[arlathvhen]

Ugh. Ughhh. Why can't she talk to him for longer than five minutes without something going wrong? "Cade, it's not a problem, really. It's nothing bad. People just know that we're friends." She reaches out to touch his arm, smiling gently. "You're one of my closest friends, that's all."

Which is, when Beleth thinks about it, pretty sad.

"Please don't be upset. The goats might sense it, and attack." It's a joke, see? A weak joke, maybe, but still an attempt to smooth things over.

[onlyhymns]

Because it's Cade, silly! He's in the process of continuing to freak out when something Beleth says catches his attention, and he stops.
"..I am?" The question is bewildered, and hopeful, and wary all at once. Not just a friend, but one of the closest. Has he ever been really close to anyone?

[arlathvhen]

Cade's surprise is met with surprise in turn, Beleth tilting her head, slightly. Wasn't that obvious? She didn't go around threatening Seekers for just anyone. But then, Cade didn't know that. Hopefully.

"Yes, of course. I like you better than some of my former clanmates. And least you don't insult my mother to my face." There's a small frown, and for a moment, it looks like Beleth might go off on one of her tangents. But instead, she just shakes her head. "Anyway. I like spending time with you. And talking to you. I try to maintain a large net of casual friends, but there's only a few people that I'm really close to. That I can talk to about my true feelings, without worrying that they'll scorn me for them."

AKA: She doesn't shit talk with just anyone.

[onlyhymns]

Cade has gone a bit red, and he keeps his head up, perhaps just to make sure the much-shorter Beleth can't look up at him and see how flustered he is. It's a good thing. She likes him more than some of her clanmates? He doesn't know what to do with this information.

"Well," he stammers, tries a few times to say something that ends up not happening, "mm, thank you." Ahem. It's like the sun just started shining.

[arlathvhen]

It's nice to see that he seems to have some...kind of positive reaction to the news. Which means he believes her, which is good. It means that he trusts that when she says she likes him, he takes her word for it, and she knows that is...not always the case. Or, really, rarely the case.

So she smiles brightly at him, says, "Of course," and takes it in stride when he doesn't reciprocate the sentiment. Well, of course she's one of his closest friends, she already knew that.

Feeling like the subject has been successfully handled, she turns back to the goat tracks, and points where they're headed. "I hope they don't get too far into the cliffs. I don't think either of us can quite climb like one."

[onlyhymns]

She caught him in a good mood, clearly. A goat-huntin' mood.
"Well," he muses, coming down from the moment and following Beleth's gaze to the goat tracks, "I guess that's what arrows are for."