[open] where I go

[onlyhymns]

WHO: Knight-Lieutenant Cade Harimann and you
WHAT: A jumpy templar is out of the dungeon and getting his bearings on Skyhold. What horrors will he face? (by horrors I mean other people)
WHEN: Early Haring
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES:If your character met him during speed dating, feel free to assume that conversation happened IC (except Nerva) and that they're already acquainted.

Finally unleashed upon his new home, and wearing his traveling leathers with the unmistakeable flaming Templar sword emblazoned on the chest, Cade made his way around Skyhold with the intention of finding a purpose for himself.

1. The battlements. Cade was unnerved by crowds and limited sightlines, so he had taken to spending a good chunk of time up in the battlements. It gave him an opportunity to watch, listen, and grow accustomed to life below, which was so very different than how he'd come to understand the world.

2. The training grounds. Although he had first been seen in his heavy Templar plate, wielding a sword, left to his own devices Cade was more likely to use the archery range. He was an exceptionally good shot, and spent hours shooting targets with the single-minded concentration of one who was trying not to think about anything at all.

3. The chapel. He could often be found alone in the small chamber just off the cloistered garden, on his knees and with his head bowed to the altar of Andraste.

4. Anywhere! Give me a place and I'll find a reason that he'd be there.

Comments

[colecomfort]

"Who am I when the rules don't matter? What are we? Knuckles white, throat burning, Maker watches over me." Oh. That was... oh.

That same revulsion rose in him: a reflection of the man's emotions, but also a reaction to what Cole had seen before the door to those memories had been quickly shut. Not enough to see it all, to know the whole shape of things, but enough to feel the horror. To know that something — someone — had ruptured his trust this thoroughly.

"He got it wrong." The words were pulled out of him: hushed, but soaked through with his sudden conviction. This was the most important thing that could be said. "He only spoke the words. The rest was hollow."

[girlinthebox]

When--

The terror is familiar, closing at the throat, the sense of you were supposed to help me, and River feels her skin crawl all over again without knowing fully why. He'd believed the words, hidden in them like armor, a light to banish the darkness. But light guttered, faltered with his fear.

Would Cole's words find the mark? Some hurts went too deep, too buried beneath scars to be healed easily.

[onlyhymns]

"Please go."

Cade had buried his face in his hands, his fingers clawed as though he sought to penetrate his own flesh and remove it entirely. He faced fully away from them now, cowering like a beaten dog, unable to look at them again. He had no further defenses, and could only hope they would accept his plea.

Tonight would be bad. He would spend far too long in the steams, scrubbing his skin raw, but he would never be clean enough.

[colecomfort]

The words hadn't worked. If old hurts were scars, Cole had torn one open that was only ever half-healed, barely sutured and sometimes, still bleeding. It was burning in the man's mind, seeping into every corner. Unclean.

"I tugged, and it tore. I didn't mean to. I'm sorry." Perhaps the words were worth something. To himself, if not to the templar, because:

"Forget." Cole spoke the word with a wave of his hand, creating a hole in the man's memory and allowing the past few minutes to slip into it, and disappear. He stood, and walked toward the door without looking back. He only paused to speak, briefly, to River:

"We should go."