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

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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.

"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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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."

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."

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

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