faderift | (no subject)

WHO: Fenris and Open!
WHAT: Powers going awry!
WHEN: During these last couple phases of the illness, so when powers first go all weird and onward. Anything goes! The timing is pretty much all over the place, so anything taking place in the Gallows is obviously pre-quarantine!!
WHERE: Kirkwall, the Hanged Man, the Gallows
NOTES: No warnings, just the plot-stuff going down. Maybe a bottle of wine or chair or something is harmed though, whoops.

You dropped something

It starts unexpectedly. Fenris is minding his own business, just out shopping for supplies to bring back home. It’s nothing particularly special, just some food, plenty of liquor, and a bunch of potions, because at this point it can’t hurt to have extra around. He’s all bundled up now, trying to cover the brands as much as possible.

Very suddenly, he feels the return of that burning sensation he's been getting lately. He growls in anger at the feeling, an anger he often channels into activating his powers. It's enough to do it at the moment. Everything he’s carrying just falls through his hands, just like that, smashing on the ground. The liquor goes spilling all over the ground as the bottles shatter. He gasps in alarm as he holds his arms up, noticing the familiar glowing that happens when his power is active, surrounding his arms which have a transparent overall look to them...

Have a seat

Fenris needs a drink, or probably several. Even he has his limits for staying holed up in the mansion, so he eventually makes his way to his favorite shitty bar. Once there, he orders his usual, and takes a seat…

...or tries to take a seat.

Instead, he just falls completely through the chair, starting to faintly glow as this happens. He’s quick to move away, and with good timing as he returns to normal, feeling himself solidify. He mutters a curse under his breath as he tries again to sit down, only to undergo the same result. Then again. The angrier he becomes, the harder it is to control, so the more it keeps happening.

Training session

It’s no better when he goes to the training area in the Gallows. Fenris figures he needs to get a handle on what’s happening. Maybe if he works on it, he’ll find some way to adapt to how fickle his powers have been lately. Sword in hand, he warms up first by going through some regular routines that don’t involve the brands.

Once he’s ready, he concentrates, attempting to make himself turn insubstantial. He starts to glow as usual, so far so good… and then he finds that everything is working well, better than usual, in fact. He whirls around the practice area, slicing and stabbing at the dummies. He comes close to reaching his hand through one of them, but then the glow surrounding him starts to sputter, fading all at once. He slashes at the target in frustration.

Pain is one thing that he’s accustomed to enduring. But this unpredictability is too much.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It’s been quite the nuisance, and it seems that it’s only gotten more frustrating than ever. He pauses, glancing at the stuff spilled on the ground, giving it a death glare as if it’s all at fault somehow. Then he looks back to Carver.

“I wish I had a better explanation for you. It doesn’t take much to set it off lately.” Even just stray thoughts that get him a bit in the right mindset appear to do it. Great, just… great, just what he needs. He holds up one of his glowing hands and now focuses the smoldering anger toward it.

Carver, for all he can be a jerk, does something a bit less jerk-like and bends down to pick up some of the items, at least those that didn't break from the fall. "Something to do with how they've been acting up lately? Weren't you complaining they were itching fiercely a week ago?"

Fenris glances at his hands, waiting impatiently for them to re-solidify and stop glowing. Really, of all the timing, it had to happen now, almost on a whim? Whatever's going on, it's getting more frustrating to deal with lately.

"They were, and then the itching turned into... more of a burning..." He frowns, holding up an arm. "Followed by this. Whatever the cause, it's only becoming more of a nuisance with time."

"You're losing control over them," he says, meaning for it to come out as a question but becomes a statement instead. "We've got templars and Rifters turning and oozing blue, and your markings are going haywire." Lovely. Just bloody lovely. "...and you glow blue. So this is something to do with - no, it can't be just lyrium. The bloody rifters aren't chock full of the stuff like the templars are." Are they?

Fenris agrees with a nod and a deep sigh. Carver has brought up the heart of the dilemma that he's facing at the moment. He's been wondering about the connection as well, and coming up with nothing.

"The rifters are a problem." In more ways than one, undoubtedly, but in this case, it's mainly that it's hard to figure out how they quite fit. "Yet somehow it's all connected. There's some reason for us all being affected at once, in slightly different ways. The sooner we figure it out, the better... A cure can't come too soon."

The secondary implication of the rifters being a problem isn't lost on him. He for one agrees with it, though he's not of the mind the rifters are actually demons or anything. They don't seem to have any choice in being here, so he can't hold it against them entirely. "I'll leave that to the scholars and healers to figure out. This is out of my wheelhouse." He beckons with his head. "Need a hand getting this to your place?"

Right. He’s managed to move on past the Maker help us they’re demons stage and into more of a… detached uncertainty when it comes to rifters. They’ve been useful, no one can deny that. And it’s been a long enough time that he’s sure if they were secret demons, they’d have shown their true colors by now. Likely.

“I wouldn’t mind, if you have the time for it.” He normally would refuse, but does he really want a repeat incident at the moment? No, thank you. “I just hope those working on it are getting close to finding something. This can’t keep going on.”

Or they're incredibly patient demons with iron wills. Which, while possible, is probably not entirely likely. Someone would have slipped by now.

"Wouldn't have offered if I didn't." Carver finishes gathering up the dropped items, leaving the broken ones as they are. With everything scooped up in his arms, he carefully sets them back into the bags. "I've no idea who all is working on it. Probably Anders and the other healers."

It really does seem unlikely, even to Fenris who distrusts magical things tied to the Fade on principle. It's still all a big unknown, so he feels wary of it... but it's probably not likely that demons are walking among them freely. Probably.

"Probably so." He doesn't look thrilled at relying on Anders to deal with this situation, but he's not the only healer, that has to count for something, right? "I've heard little about any progress, so far, but that doesn't mean much. They may not want to make their findings public yet."