OPEN - Follow me home, if you dare to

[helpinghidinghaunting]

WHO: Cole and YOU!
WHAT: Catch-all for Cole's first month!
WHEN: September
WHERE: Various - the Gallows, Kirkwall, possibly TBD
NOTES: Astarion thread: CW - Mentions of abuse, torture, murder, and starving

If you want something special, let me know and I will write us a starter! And a reminder, you can fill out Cole's permissions HERE if you would like him to read your character's pain/past!

Starters in comments.

Comments

[bouchonne]

Byerly is not someone who takes particularly well to kindnesses. Nor is he someone who likes seeing sneaking and subtlety. It's a little bit his profession: any credulity he'd had as a younger man was firmly trained out of him by his spymaster, replaced with skepticism that borders on paranoia. It's also a little bit his personality, because there hadn't been much credulity to begin with. You don't live a life like Byerly's and come away with a lot of trust.

"It is not my habit," By says, his voice bone-dry, "to drink beverages of unknown provenance." He lays a hand on the hot cup of coffee he's been brought, and looks at Cole, and says, "Particularly not when they come from boys who look half-mad."

[helpinghidinghaunting]

The tone of Byerly's voice and the pointed words that come with it don't really seem to bother the strange young man in the corner much. He's more surprised at being noticed than he is at being insulted, evidenced by the way he freezes a little as he is addressed. The insult goes right over his head. Likely his look is one of lunacy, after all. Isn't that just being human anyway?

Besides, the coffee is secondary to what this man really needs, and Cole can't give him that by running away because he is being disliked.

"You needed it," he murmurs in a dusty tone, bony fingers wringing together. "It's from the kitchen. I don't know how to make it, I only poured it. Brought it." A pause. "I didn't think you would see me."

[bouchonne]

"You're not exactly subtle," Byerly drawls. Even so, a bit of his annoyance is disrupted by Cole's response. It's hard to maintain anger at someone who looks that nervous. Not that By is about to haul off and trust him, of course - a strange boy mumbling about being unseen is definitely not someone to accept an unknown drink from - but still, it's a bit nasty to yell at some kid.

So he sighs, and hazards a guess: "Are you a Rifter?" After all, Rifters are the oddest lot he knows; it doesn't seem unlikely that this lad would be one of their number.

[helpinghidinghaunting]

"No, I mean...you shouldn't have seen me."

But this man DOES see him, and there must be a reason for that. It's already hard for Cole to explain himself in these situations, but this one is especially tricky to communicate. At least the anger fades a little, giving the Spirit a chance to try to make further conversation.

He shakes his head side to side, holding up both hands so that Byerly can see the absence of an Anchor Shard. "No. Fell from the Fade but not flung from far away." The words are a trembling train, the boy's expression strained.

[bouchonne]

By's eyes narrow a bit. "Are you a ghost?" It's not impossible, after all. Byerly has met rather more madmen in his life than ghosts, but that doesn't mean that ghosts aren't out there. Maybe there are even some ghosts bored enough to take some interest in someone as mundane as By. "Or a spirit?"

[helpinghidinghaunting]

It's a long moment of quiet before a response happens - Cole is frozen, wondering what confirmation will cause. He chews his lip, eyes flicking to and fro before sliding back upward to where Byerly is staring him down.

"...Yes," he breathes. "A Spirit. But I'm here. Solid. Real."

His hands slowly drop to grip the hem of his tunic.

"I just want to help."