(no subject)

[colecomfort]

WHO: Cole & Several (includes OPEN THREAD for Rifters)
WHAT: Compassion returns to Skyhold.
WHEN: Early-Mid Haring
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: Cole works best with individualized threads rather than completely open ones. Please don't be afraid to contact me (Plurk or PM) if you'd like to set something up! Prompts will be posted in comments.

Comments

[Closed] Isabela - the tavern

[colecomfort]

Cole likes the tavern. Joy and relief mixes with sorrow and longing there, and music ties together the minds and hearts of those who listen. On the rare occasion he sees nothing to be done, he will go there. Sooner or later, he will find something.

Sometimes he lets himself be pulled by the idle longings that have a sweeter sting. It could almost be called an indulgence, because there isn't really anything he can do about them, but he listens anyway.

And that is how he ends up sitting cross-legged on a barrel across from a pirate.

"The floor never rolls. The wind only sprays snow, and when it blows, the flap of a banner is nothing like a sail."

[easternseaqueen]

Said pirate coughed into her drink.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" she demanded, staring at the young man across the way.

She couldn't recall quite if she recognized him or not. Maybe she'd seen him around. He seemed a quiet sort. Probably too young to get involved in the sorts of things Isabela was fond of.

Either way. That was weird.

[colecomfort]

"I've never been to the sea," he mused, moving on as if the conversation was perfectly natural. "Only the Storm Coast. The water always comes back to the land, but I can't tell where it's going."

[easternseaqueen]

"In that case, you haven't lived. Nothing quite like being up on the deck, salt spray in your face... Pure freedom," she sighed with a fond smile.

[colecomfort]

Pure freedom. It did sound nice... but he wasn't quite sure it was true.

"But you can't leave the boat."

[easternseaqueen]

"Oh, Kitten..." She laughed. "In some ways, with your hands on the helm and the deck bucking beneath your feet, the wind in your hair as much as in the sails... It's almost like you are the boat."

[colecomfort]

Wind in his hair sounded pleasant, even if it would mean taking off his hat. It sounded especially good when she said it: like home, but a home that never stayed in one place. Where you always were where you were meant to be. For a moment, he remembered along with her.

"Parting the waters, preparing to chase the horizon. Boot-falls echo on the hollow hull, hungry for treasure."

[easternseaqueen]

Her eyes narrowed just a bit.

"Are you sure you've never been sailing before?" she asked. "You know, if you ever want to, I'm sure my boys wouldn't mind taking you around for a bit. Especially if I tell them to."

[colecomfort]

At the offer, he was forced to imagine himself on the deck of a ship, instead of seeing it through her eyes.

"I'm used to the floor staying where it is," he said, hesitant. It wasn't really a rejection of her offer. It was only that all at once, he wasn't so certain.

[easternseaqueen]

"You learn to move with the deck, Kitten. That's what's called 'getting your sea legs.' Then you don't fall down," she explained.