[open] peel the scars from off my back

[onlyhymns]

WHO: Cade and you!
WHAT: Just hangin' around, livin' life, bein' weird
WHEN: Cloudreach
WHERE: The Gallows and Lowtown, mostly
NOTES: All the usual warnings that come with Cade. If you'd like a specific prompt, hit me up or just throw one in the comments.

I. Out and about in the Gallows (recommended for our new Templar friends)

Cade has not been to collect his lyrium dosage since before all the Templars were ravaged by their mysterious illness, but he still arrives every morning looking fit as a fiddle (comparatively) to start his workday with Enchanter Shivana. Being that he's a reclusive and fairly off-putting person by virtue of his... well, him-ness, Cade has never been part of any group that hasn't had its share of rumors about what he's about. But lately he's become more of a cautionary tale, a there-but-by-the-grace-of-the-Maker-go-I when he slinks by any on-duty Templar and avoids their gaze.
Despite being kicked out of the Templars, and not collecting his lyrium, he's not having withdrawals. He also works under at least one elf (two if Beleth counts), practices archery on the regular, and almost, if you squint, seems to be starting to live a normal life.
That bastard's hiding something.

II. Lowtown

Now that the weather has gotten warmer, Cade stays out later in his little hiding places where he reads or writes or just watches the sea. He can often be found in the evening with his back to a wall and his gaze beyond the people walking by, finding solitude where there's really none to be found.

Periodically someone tries to mug him and comes away disappointed, or gets a coin or two. It's an occupational hazard of living by the docks.

III. The Chantry Garden

Regardless of weather, every day at dawn Cade can be found at the newly-carved Andraste shine in the center of what remains of the forest, saying his morning prayers before he continues uptown to the Gallows. It's not nice to disturb him, but inevitably someone does on occasion.

IV. Misc!

Choose Your Own Adventure

Comments

[onlyhymns]

"I'm sorry," he murmurs despite the reassurance, lifting his head wearily and watching Nari move. He hesitates before accepting the spot she's left for him, but looks ashamed while he does it, and he even adds another "sorry," as he moves into place and curls his legs in front of him.

[nadasharillen]

Nari furrows her brow at the apology. He hadn't done anything. If anyone, she should be apologizing.

And so she asks; "Why?"

[onlyhymns]

It takes Cade a moment to realize what she's asking. He looks at her over his shoulder, eyebrows knit in worry. He isn't sure. Because... he's... so awkward? And bad at everything, especially when it involves interacting with other people? Because he's Like This?

"...I'm..." he murmurs, searching, "...difficult." He's not wrong.

[nadasharillen]

Having just been thinking of him as a particularly complex crafter's puzzle, his assertion actually makes the corner of Nari's mouth lift in a gentle half-smile.

"Perhaps," she replies slowly, "but that's not--" she pauses, frowns slightly in thought, turns it over in her mind. It's not as if she'd been separating the difficult bits to one side; deciding she wanted to keep only this look, or that small smile, or only the hours of his reading to her or those of their effortless silence and then saying somehow that all the rest was something that needed to be shuffled away and apologized for.

"What if... I don't think that what you are is something that needs to be forgiven?" she asks finally.

[onlyhymns]

Cade finds the question somewhat surprising, and he has to think it over as he had with much of what she's said. It hadn't occurred to him that that's how he feels: like he himself, his very being, is the problem. But he does. And, with a pang of anxiety, he understands why, but pushes it down.
"...um," he murmurs, unsure of how to proceed, "maybe you don't know." What he is. Whatever that is. He doesn't even know.

[nadasharillen]

"...Maybe," she agrees.

And then perhaps because it's dark, or perhaps because eventually the sun would rise and this space would be gone, or because the air has cooled and she can smell the rain coming again, or because of the feel of the cloth under her restless fingertips, or she's reckless, or stupid, or lonely, she shifts a bit to look at the fading reds and oranges as the last of the fire seeks out the last of the wood and says, "Maybe I'd like to."

[onlyhymns]

Yet another long look, but this one directed at Nari. Cade considers, then nods, shifting into a tighter curl so he can rest his cheek on the arm of the couch, fatigue beginning to overwhelm his worry. There will be more to talk about later, but between the rain and the ache in his back and the exhaustion from spilling all his emotions, suddenly sleep seems like all he's capable of.
His eyelids drift downward, though he fights it. Maybe they're not done talking.

[nadasharillen]

He doesn't reply, so Nari looks back over and catches the beginnings of Cade's slip into sleep. Not having much else to say, she doesn't interrupt it, although there will be the soft noise of her unfolding from her position on the other side of the couch to retrieve the blanket she'd brought, and the the settle of it over him that follows.

There are other little sounds, although now mostly drowned out by rain; cloth wiping leather, tick of wood as a box closes, Nari readjusting herself in the other corner in a scout's slight lean. She'll be awake for a while yet, as she's wont to be, but there will be little to disturb the man curled at the other end.